


Rip Tide

by ianixela



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: AU, Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Surfers, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Cheesy, Drunken Flirting, Drunken Kissing, Drunkenness, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Healing, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Mentions of Blood, Mentions of Injuries, Minor Character Death, Reylo - Freeform, Surfing, don't read if you have thalassophobia, fun in the sun, this self indulgent AF, trash, very mild angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:08:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23345932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ianixela/pseuds/ianixela
Summary: Up and coming pro-surfer Rey Niima heads to Tahiti with coach Poe Dameron to prepare for one of the biggest competitions in the sport. Will her mentor's nephew, badly injured, semi-retired pro Ben Solo prove to be a helping hand or delightful distraction? Maybe a bit of both...
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 73
Kudos: 128





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hold on to your bathing suits y'all...this is gonna be cheesy garbage central. I know the tags seem serious AF but this story is actually quite lighthearted after the first two chapters. 
> 
> This chapter has warnings for: Angst, extreme poverty, drug use, implied overdose and death of a minor character. 
> 
> Okay here goes the trash, I'm sorry...

Rey Niima had a rough start to life.

She’d been born in Hawaii, to two opioid addicts. They hadn’t been bad people, really, her mother moving to Hawaii from Britain to pursue that hippie, carefree lifestyle that made the islands so popular. There she met a local man, another hippie, happy go lucky soul who picked bananas and pineapple for a living. Two fools in love. They shared everything, and when Rey’s mother, going through withdrawals from lack of access to her poison of choice had disclosed her condition, they realized that they shared their addiction too. 

Rey was born a year later, premature, a little underweight, at home because her mom could not afford hospital care. She’d been afraid that if they found traces of opiates in her system, her baby would be taken away. She’d tried very hard to stay clean, to birth a baby free of addiction, and she’d managed. Rey was small, but she came out of the womb with a fighting spirit that kept her going.

Her mother's sobriety didn’t last very long. A few months after Rey was born, her mother was using again.

As she grew, Rey got used to her parents disappearing for hours, and she’d keep busy, playing in the dirt next to their dingy, moldy trailer until one of them came home. Her mother was pale and drawn, too weak to move unless it was to go get her fix. 

She was very beautiful, with green eyes and fair skin, fine boned. But she was thin, and sad too.

One day, Rey was four years old, her father didn’t come back home, and her mother didn’t move for days. Sleeping or crying, and then motionless, staring listlessly in the void.

For days her mother lay unmoving, even if Rey shook her, pinched her hand. Her mother wouldn’t wake up, cold and stiff.

Rey remembers the hunger, scratching at her insides like an angry animal. She was used to going hungry, her parents forgetting food for hours, sometimes entire days. Until she cried for it and her mother would apologize, kiss her hair and her nose, go to the convenience store and come back with a candy bar, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich wrapped in waxed paper. But this time it had been days on end, Rey’s mother unseeing and unmoving even if Rey cried as loud as she could.

After four days, Rey went digging through the trash outside to find something she could give to the raging beast in her belly. A neighbour at the trailer park came to check on her, finding her on her knees in the dirt, rifling through papers.

Alani Niima stepped into Rey’s trailer, making her promise to wait outside, and when she was out, two minutes later, her face was pale. Her velvety black eyes wet. But she’d smiled at Rey and took her hand.

“Come sweetie, you need a good bath and food in your belly.”

The young mother of two with the kind smile washed her in a bucket outside, her hair and her face, so gentle, and wrapped her in a warm blanket. Gave her a big bowl of steamed taro and rice and sat her in front of the little TV with her young twin daughters, while she went in the bedroom and made a phone call, her voice a soft murmur.

There were lights outside, blue and red, and a knock at the door. A tall police officer with sad eyes, speaking to Alani in hushed tones. Rey had been scared that the police man would take her away, but he was so sad when he patted her hair.

“You be good to Miss Niima now, Rey. I’ll come check on you in four weeks, okay?”

That day, Rey Nobody became Rey Niima, and Alani became her mother. 

She had no birth certificate, no social security number.

Too many kids in foster care, too many mouths to feed. The government sent Alani a little pension to help, and the young woman did the very best she could to keep Rey out of the system.

Against all odds, she succeeded. 

It wasn’t easy, a single mom of three, living in a trailer park. But Alani Niima was nothing if not resourceful. Rey was enrolled in school, and soon, she started to thrive. Burying herself in books, diligent with her school work, and hardly ever fighting with her little step-sisters Kalea and Akela. Helping around the house, babysitting when Alani had to stay at work late, and as soon as she was able, picking up a part time job at the nearby junkyard. 

The boss was a greasy, oily and unpleasant man called Unkar Plutt. He was lazy and pay was terrible, but she could help her mother with the groceries, and put a little bit aside for something special.

Something just for her. Something she had seen in the window of a pawn shop on her way to school. A shiny, blue and white surfboard.

Rey was made for the water. Alani even purported that maybe she had been born in the ocean, like a sea lion, and that was why she swam like one. The little beach behind the trailer park was always littered with bottles and trash, but once a week, she and the twins, armed with plastic bags and rubber gloves, would clean the whole beach and spend the afternoon swimming in the blue waters.

Eyeing the waves breaking on the horizon with a hunger that went beyond the desire for food. One day, she would ride those waves on her little blue surfboard, and pretend she was a sea lion, one with the ocean.

It’s the first day with her surfboard she remembers the most from her childhood. Alani on the beach, the twins building sandcastles and chasing little red crabs under rocks. Wiping out more times that she could count but everytime she managed to ride the wave, her mother and the girls cheered for her on the beach making pure joy burst in the pit of her stomach.

She’s thinking of that day right now, boarding the small plane that will take her to the next step of her journey.

The small blue and white board hangs on the wall in her mother’s house in Hilo, proudly displayed next to her surfing trophies, and her shiny high school diploma from Waiakea High. She had no time for college studies, now that was surfing full time, but it had made her mother so proud to drape a brightly coloured lei around her neck on her graduation day. Alani had never finished high school, becoming a mother too young, but she’d worked hard, and gotten them all out of poverty.

When Rey would make it big on the pro-circuit, she’d pay off her mother’s mortgage. She had big goals to reach.

* * *

Poe Dameron had seen Rey surf for the first time on a little stretch of quiet beach in Hilo. He was just there to visit an old friend, minding his own business, trying to find a decent cone of shave ice when he saw her.

A little slip of a girl, in a pink and black rashguard and blue bikini bottoms, attacking a barrel like a shark chasing prey. Fearless, agile, zigzagging across the wave with an ease born of long hours in the water. He’d ran down to the edge of the water, shoving his Ray Bans up his forehead in pure disbelief.

As it happened, Poe Dameron had a champion on his hands. A natural one at that.

Rey Niima had been hard to convince by the ex-pro.

“I don’t know man, I’m fresh out of high school, my mom just got a new house and she’s gonna need help for the mortgage. I have to work this summer, not just chase waves.” she’d explained, strapping her well worn board on the roof of a little green mazda that had seen better days.

“What if you got sponsored? It would cover all your expenses…” Poe had pleaded and Rey had laughed, unzipping the old rashguard to bare a muscled expanse of tan skin with plenty of coral cuts, a geometric tattoo of polynesian birds flying down her ribs to settle on her hip.

Her rashguard was too thin, and she’d get nicked every time she wiped out.

“Me? Sponsored? You’re dreaming pal, I don’t know what Healani up there put in your shave ice but you’re tripping…”

Poe was getting a little desperate, so he got the big guns out.

“What if I film your next session, and send it over to my friend Luke Skywalker in Maui?”

Rey’s mouth had dropped at that, comically.

“Luke Skywalker...you mean,  _ the  _ Luke Skywalker. The big wave legend?”

Poe smirked, knowing he had her interest now. 

“The very same. He trained me when I went pro, he’s still training some of the best people on the circuit. How about we ask him what he thinks, and then we’ll see.”

A light of determination had brightened Rey’s hazel eyes, the lithe girl offering a slim, calloused hand.

“You got a deal, pal.”

Poe sent a video and waited. In the morning, Skywalker’s instructions had been simple.

_ Bring her in. ASAP. _

* * *

Rey’s nose was stuck to the small round plane window, eyes as big as saucers as the light craft that transported her and everything she held dear started it’s slanted descent towards Tahiti.

The list was short: Poe, her coach, and a brand new, sunny yellow and orange board sponsored by one of the best surf board brands in the world, Solo Surf, and Bebe, Poe’s orange and white corgi mix. All four of them would be landing in Papeete in less than ten minutes, and she could not for one second stop the crazy racing of her heart. 

Here she was, nineteen years old, and ready to tackle her first big wave training in Teahupoo. Eight weeks ahead of the Tahiti Pro qualifiers. With a little luck, she’d make it through, and with even more luck, she’d get to compete.

“You excited, kid?”

“Look at that  _ fucking _ water Poe! It's like...like staring at a pool of aquamarine. It’s so blue…”

“And it’s warm too, you just wait to dip your toes in there…”

Her stomach made happy somersaults at the thought.

Papeete was a pretty small town, but bustling with activity. Big luxury cruise liners would often stop on their way to other islands in the archipelago, and the airport was full of tourists wearing pastel shirts, panama hats and bright leis. Bebe, restless from the flight, pulled at her leash excitedly and sniffed the salt air, the floor and about every surface she could still her little nose on.

A pick-up truck was procured from the airport’s parking lot, conveniently leased ahead by her cantankerous mentor. 

Luke Skywalker had stayed behind in Pe’ahi.

_ “You don’t need me to train Rey, it’s just eight weeks, Poe can handle it. I’ll come when the Tahiti Pro starts, with my sister. She says that my nephew might decide to compete again this year...I’d like to see him go at it, with my own eyes.” _

Kylo Ren. Or as he was now known, Ben Solo. Heir to the Solo Surf empire.

Infamous on the circuit, a real shark in the water, climbing up to the coveted number one in the charts. A bright career.

Rey had always deeply admired his style, the ease of his movements, how he fearlessly went up to the biggest waves and showed the ocean who’s boss. She never really understood his attitude though. Not that Ben was not very sportsmanlike, respectful to a fault, but not exactly friendly either. Infamous for his angry outbursts. Rey knew his parents, Leia, the semi-retired sea shepherd activist, and Han, surf legend and crafter of the most magical boards Rey had ever ridden. They were kind, patient people.

Maybe that belligerent attitude had had more to do with his ex-boss, Snoke.

Rey had never really understood Ben’s decision to forgo training with his own uncle, to let an unknown promoter take charge of his career. Richard Snoke had not been a surfer, if anything, he had never been seen near the water at all. A bad injury in his youth, an encounter with a jelly fish on a boating trip, had badly scarred his face and body, and he had never been in the water since. His predatory interest in young surfers had been even more puzzling, knowing the magnate’s circumstances.

Luke had told Rey that the weight of the legendary Solo and Skywalker surfing legacies, coupled with his own anxious tendencies, had been too much for young Ben to carry on his shoulders. That Snoke had promised a shiny opportunity at freedom. It had been a golden cage, binding Ben in a contract for years.

And then there was the accident.

Rey had seen it happen, a bit less than a year ago.

She had been at Pe’ahi that day, along with Luke Skywalker himself, looking on from the cliffs at the nephew he hadn’t talked to for years.

Jaws was a peculiar surf break. Ever changing, a haven for unpredictable, monster waves that attracted big wave pros from all over the world. It was a routine tow-in session, or so it seemed, Kylo Ren, number one in the world, attacking the monster with usual gusto on his signature red and black board. 

But something had gone wrong. A weird movement from his left knee, his leg giving out and he wiped out, horribly, underwater for a solid sixty seconds while the ocean pummeled him into razor sharp reefs.

Rey had watched with bated breath as the rescue team rushed in before the next swell, there had been blood in the water. So much blood on Kylo Ren’s face when he had been pulled out of the water, limp and pale as a ghost, unconscious.

Badly injured. Broken, his face disfigured by the reef. Airlifted out to Honolulu for surgery with Luke in tow. His boss had not accompanied him, heading back to california without a backwards glance.

Kylo Ren’s career had been done after that. Snoke’s chosen sponsors pulling out, his contract voided. He’d fallen into utter obscurity, not a single surf publication mentioning him for months, apart from the accident. There had been speculation, but no answers.

Rey had not been there the night Kylo, Ben, had called Luke Skywalker for the first time in years, but she remembers her mentor’s face the next morning.

There had been a lot of hope in the old man’s eyes.

She hadn’t been around the few times Ben and his mother came to visit Luke, but he was here in Tahiti, Han had left a board prototype in their care for him. She was looking forward to meeting him face to face, and maybe learning a few things from a true champion.

The drive out of town was a bit of a hassle, the small streets of Papeete backed up with traffic. Busses, cars, and even motorcycles hauling tourists and goods to and fro, Poe cursing behind the wheel. It took a solid two hours to get to Matiti, three kilometres north of Teahupoo, where Luke had procured some lodgings for his protégée. The little villa was one of the most beautiful places she’d even seen, right by the ocean, waves crashing right below the wraparound porch. 

White stucco walls and red shingled roof, a wide open floor plan on the first floor, huge bedrooms on the second floor. Rey had her own bathroom, a godsend considering how particular Poe was with his haircare, and her bedroom had huge windows with ocean views. A queen bed with white sheets and blankets, and a ton of tropical plants in hanging planters and large concrete pots. She even had a little balcony, big enough to lay a yoga mat and lay in the sun.

Maz, the owner of the villa, lived in California most of the time, a little hippie old lady that had been Luke and Leia’s friend for as the earth had been around, or thereabouts.

She had graciously loaned her villa, provided they water her plants and perhaps send her a few bottles of the local rum…

After unloading the truck, separating luggage and settling in, the sun was already low in the sky, hurtling towards the blue water in orange and pink clouds.

“I’m gonna take the truck and pick up some groceries in Taravao, do you want to come with?” Poe asks, after a shower that had taken entirely too long.

Rey looks out the window at the sunset, towelling her own shower damp hair.

“I think I’m gonna take the bicycle in the shed and go down to Teahupoo village, check it out. I don’t think I can sit still any longer, I’ve been seated all day.”

Poe laughs, pocketing his wallet.

“No problem kid, sometimes I forget I have twenty years on you…my old bones are tired!”

“Come on Dameron, we both know you have plenty of stamina in ya...speaking of, maybe I’ll keep an eye out for you out there, find you a date or something.” she teases, grabbing the shed key from the hook.

“Oof good luck kid, if you can find someone that can stand me for more than 24 hours, I’ll marry them. Be careful out there, I don’t know how good that bike is, and if you get hurt we’ll be in trouble, won’t we?” he admonishes, getting a foot through the front door, “Don’t get home too late, tomorrow, we attack the wave.”

On the fridge door, there is a list of places and things that Maz left for them, attached with a little ceramic fish magnet. They’re neatly organized in columns, written in black pen and block letters: Fun places, good eats, best surf breaks, best places to get gear, people to know.

There’s a name that repeats in many categories: Café Tico. And in the  _ People to Know _ column, a glowing recommendation:  _ Paige and Rose Tico (they are darlings and Café Tico is the place to go in Teahupoo for coffee or late night drinks. Make friends, they know everyone!!!) _

Café Tico it was, Rey decided, riding the white bike into the liquid sunset.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo how are y'all doing! Quarantine and self-isolation requirements got even tighter where I live, guess that gives me even more time to write...ugh
> 
> In other news this fic will update every Friday, cheers!

Ben Solo is a bit of a loner. He has always been.

As a child, he had been taller, paler and definitely quieter than all the other kids in his year at school. He was far too big, and way too good at sports to be bullied outright. No one wanted to pick a fight with the kid who could crush your head on a bad day, but that made it hard to make friends.

His closest friend was the ocean.

When he sat on his little board, off the south california coast, letting the waves sway him left and right, he felt cared for. When he slipped off and let the water swallow him, the ocean held him in an embrace that was better than anything else he could feel.

His mother had taken him to swim lessons as soon as he could move his arms and legs. His father had put him on a board before he could walk, and before that, he’d take baby Ben with him on his board, holding him upright as they rode small waves.

But as soon as he could ride on his own, he disappeared every afternoon to chase the breaks, and as he got older, started mixing up with other delinquents. An angry, tall boy with intimidating looks, wandering with his two surf hooligan friends. Gwen Phasma and Armitage Hux, well to do kids like him, and just as bored of their easy lives. Roaming the streets in their expensive clothes, cutting school in search of entertainment. It seemed easy pickings for a gang of bored crooks who thought it would be simple to pick on a boy and his crew, not knowing that they were roiling with rage and an urge to prove themselves.

The first fight had been victorious for them, Hux nursing a fabulous shiner and Phasma’s knuckles skinned and bloody, and they’d felt so alive.

He got into plenty of fights, delighting in the adrenaline rush that he could only find riding a cresting wave, and when the cops would bring him home, bloody nosed and aching, his mother would sigh with disappointment.

His father would tell him that there was too much Solo in him, and that it would lead to trouble.

But they could not contain him. Ben Solo fought, drank, and chased the waves like his life depended on it. 

It was all fun and games until one night, they got jumped for their boards in a secluded stretch of beach at dusk. They’d fought the men off, but one of them, young, nervous, had held a gun in his hand. In the anxious flurry of fists and shoves he’d discharged the weapon. Phasma got hit in the leg, a lucky flesh wound.

When the cops had dragged him home, pale and bloody and sick with worry and guilt, Han had put his foot down.

“Alright kid, you’re chomping at the bit for some excitement? Fine, we’ll give you excitement. You’re moving to Pe’ahi next week, you’re gonna spend some time with your uncle. You like surfing, don’t you?”

Ben had nodded, chastened and sullen.

“Then you’ll surf. Maybe Luke will be able to make a champion out of you. You have it in you, kid, you just need to get out of L.A.”

* * *

As a loner, and someone who used to be kept purposefully isolated by his boss, it’s always a little strange for Ben to wake up with text messages blowing up his phone. 

Scrubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he sits up in bed, grabbing the offending piece of tech that wouldn’t stop vibrating every two seconds.

HUX: _“Dude you need to come down to the beach, the swells are SICK!”_

PHASMA: _“Ben where the fuck are you!?! This is peak barrel time man. Oh and there’s a new girl here, she surfs like she was born on the board, I’m jelly…”_

P.TICO: _“BRO THERE’S A NEW GIRL IN TOWN! SHE HOT! HELP!”_

MOM: _“Ben sweetie, your uncle sent his youngest student here to prep for the Tahiti Pro. She's with Poe, staying at Maz’s. If you see her, please be a dear and show her around. Be nice, she’s very young…”_

DAD: _“Sent a new board prototype with Dameron for you to try. Your mom did tell you he was coming your way? Let me know what you think of the board, love, dad._

Ben didn’t have the heart to tell his old father he didn’t have to sign every text message with “Dad”, it was good enough that he and his mother had convinced the old pirate to even use a smart-phone.

The kerfuffle around the girl was interesting. He’d heard things about his uncle’s young protégée, Rey Niima, but had never met her in the flesh. Apparently, she was a natural, and very humble. He was looking forward to seeing her in person, but first, coffee.

“Ready for the day, old man?” he asks the giant black and brown robed newfoundlander lounging beside him on the king bed.

Chewie was his dad’s dog, and at 8 years old was pretty much an old man for such a giant beast. An adventure dog, gentle and smart, but getting a little achy for wild escapades. Han had sent him with Ben to live a comfortable retirement of sunny beaches and boat rides in Tahiti. The old dog certainly didn’t seem to mind.

Chewie replies to Ben with a grunt, rolling onto his back to expose his fluffy tummy and Ben snorts, indulging the old dog with two handed scratches.

“Alright, tummy rubs first, and then coffee.”

* * *

When Ben pulls up to Café Tico in his old, dusty Landcruiser, the terrace is empty but for a couple of elderly regulars that are here so often he knows them by name. He greets them with a friendly little wave, and walks through the open archway that leads into the shaded belly of the café, Chewie on his heels.

Rose Tico is behind the counter, leaning over the wooden surface and furiously tapping at her phone screen. Her long dark hair is like a river of silk pulled over her tan shoulder, and she’s wearing her apron over a vivid blue tie-dye crop top and jeans shorts. There’s no dress code at Café Tico, owned by Rose and her sister Paige, and the youngest Tico dresses as eclectically as her personality.

“Hey Rose.”

Rose’s dark eyes rise to meet his and she drops her phone on the counter with a clatter.

“Bennnn oh my god how can you sleep so late when so much is happening!?”

Ben sighs, ambling over to the counter.

“Tell me everything, but please make me coffee at the same time…”

Rose gets to work, knowing his usual order by heart, hardly pausing for breath as she chatters.

“The new girl! I’ve heard she’s your uncle’s student? Is that true? Anyway, she came by last night and had a drink with me, Paige and Finn. I thought Paige was gonna have a heart attack, she’s so cute! I doubt she’s gay though, my gaydar was completely off…”

She pauses for two seconds to hand him his large coconut milk iced latte and Ben takes a sip as she continues.

“So yeah Ben she’s like perfect for you, you should ask her out!”

Ben promptly chokes on his coffee.

“What the fuck Rose.” he spits, dabbing at his mouth with his sleeve.

Rose is not deterred, wiping down the counter with gusto.

“Seriously! She’s so pretty, bubbly but like, mature? And Finn and Phasma have been texting me all morning that she’s incredible on a board.”

“How about I meet her before you start playing matchmaker. She _is_ my uncle’s trainee but I’ve never met her.”

Rose’s dark eyes get as round as bowling balls.

“Then why are you dillydalying here!? Go! The swell is really insane and your soulmate is waiting…”

“You are a character Rose.” Ben snorts, getting out of the café and back to his car, “I’ll come tonight and grab a beer, you’ll be here?” 

Rose nods.

“Everyone should be there, after dinner or thereabouts. Invite Rey, dude.”

“If she’ll talk to me, sure…”

Rose has that meddling smile that predicts nothing good as far as he’s concerned, but it’s not like he can actually stop her.

* * *

Ben was insecure.

In many ways, and ever since the accident, his insecurities around what he looked like had been worse than ever. 

On that fateful day, when he got on his board to chase the waves at Jaws, on a partially shattered knee on the orders of his ex-boss, his reality changed completely. 

He’d always known that his attractiveness was unusual. A lot of women had given him attention for his height alone, and the bold weight of his muscle, defined and powerful. But he had a strange face, and his ears stuck out, and he had an inordinate amount of beauty marks. He’d looked unusual, he was well aware of it, but it had never stopped him from going after who he wanted.

And then the reef had sliced his face open.

His entire body had been shredded by the razor sharp coral, pummeled by the wave that dragged him under. He’d broken an ankle, torn a ligament in his already broken knee, his collarbone shattered, and had more stitches than he cared to count.

He was scarred from head to toe. And on top of it, he was afraid of the water.

The ocean that ran in his veins now filled him with unspeakable dread.

He’d told his family that he was considering competing again, to placate them, so they wouldn’t worry. Faced with the possibility of competition, the idea of venturing out to face that heavy, glassy Teahupoo monster filled him with ice cold fear.

He hadn’t been with anyone since the accident, too ashamed of his scarred body. He kept mostly to himself when he surfed too, demurring from the big waves when there was an audience.

He had to rebuild his relationship with the water, and it was daunting.

Rose was precious with her hopes that this newcomer would have any interest in him. She’d take one look at his face, his broken self, and run the other way. Or worse, she’d pity him.

He parks his Landcruiser on the edge of the beach, letting Chewie out before heading to the backseat to slip into his black board shorts, slathering his bare chest with sunscreen. Adjusting the brace on his left knee, carefully, mentally hyping himself.

“It’s gonna be fine, it’s gonna be fine, you’ll get out there and hang with friends, and you’re gonna get on your board, and it’s all gonna be fine.” 

He repeats it like a mantra until a sharp, playful bark takes him out of his mental exercise. A little orange and white dog racing over to him and chewie. He knew that little rascal well enough, laughing as she nearly bowled Chewie over with her enthusiastic jumping.

“Hello Bebe…” he crooned, crouching in the sand to pet the short legged dog between her long ears, “You gotta be nice to Chewie, he's an old man.” 

Bebe replied with a happy little bark and a strong wag of her paintbrush tail. 

“Where’s your daddy Bebe? Go to him we’re coming…Go to Poe!”

Chewie had no problem chasing after the small dog with his loping gait, tail wagging, Ben following them at a light jog. 

Poe was on the beach a few meters away, looking out at the ocean through binoculars, wearing his usual combo of pastel shirt, rolled cuff white jeans and straw hat. Chewie and Bebe playfully chasing each other around him.

“What’s up Poe?” Ben greeted the man, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

“Ben! You look good man!” 

Poe was a hugger, and Ben submits to it good-naturedly.

“Have you seen Hux and Phas?” 

“They’re out there, Finn is towing them in with the jet ski but I think the really big swells are done for today. We’re gonna get a few barrels in the afternoon though, the wind is just right...Have you seen Rey yet?”

That indeed was the question on everyone’s tongue. 

“Nope, but everyone is telling me I should though…” he snorts.

Poe gives Ben the binoculars.

“She’s next in the line-up, have a look. Orange and black wetsuit, yellow and orange board.”

Ben brings the binoculars up to his eyes, spotting the curl of the glassy waves. There’s Hux and Phasma floating on their boards in the lineup, a few locals paddling up and away, and Finn in his red and white rashguard on the jet ski, ready to tow in or rescue.

Just as Poe had described, there’s a small figure in a bright orange and black wetsuit paddling over to the crest of the rising wave. Lithe and agile as she rises onto the board, attacking the huge turquoise barrel fearlessly.

Ben’s mouth gets a little dry as she slides down the glassy face of the wave at a steep angle, crouching low on the board as the barrel curls around her small form. But she emerges at the other side, looking elated as she lowers her body back to her board.

“If she doesn’t qualify for the pros...I’m eating my hat.” 

“She’s good. Very good…” Ben replies, absentmindedly, still staring at her through the binoculars.

Watching her paddling her way over to Hux and Phasma, strong and fast through the water, laughing. The binoculars weren’t strong enough to see all the details of her face, but she definitely seemed cute.

There’s the crackle of a walkie talkie beside him.

“Hey Finn, you copy?” Poe asks through the static.

“ _Yep._ ”

“Tell Rey she should come to shore, I have someone here I want her to meet, and she should be eating something.”

“ _Copy that. I’ll do my best to convince her._ ”

“Thanks man, 10-4.”

“ _10-4._ ”

Poe tugs on Ben’s wrist.

“Come along man, I’ll show you the board your dad sent while they paddle back.”

* * *

The board is beautiful, true to his father’s finely honed craft.

A hybrid board perfect for his style and height, in his black and white signature orca pattern. The one he’d had as a kid, before Snoke had geared him in gaudy red and black. 

“Look at the fins, he added an extra one mid body for those sharp turns...and he made the front lip curvier for less pearling.” Poe explains, reverently touching the board, “Han said he wants you to try it before they launch production. He made Rey a shortboard version, he said he would send it with your uncle when he comes in six weeks.”

“It's amazing,” Ben replies, truly impressed, “But shouldn’t Rey get hers first? She is definitely gonna compete in the pros…”

“Aren’t you too, though?” Poe replies, brow rising above the rim of his wayfarers.

Poe knows Ben far too much for him to even try to demur.

“I don’t know yet. I don’t think I’m ready.”

“Your doctor cleared you, you’re in great shape…”

“It’s not the body. I feel...fine. My knee is almost fully back. It’s the mental state that’s not following.”

Poe nods, knowingly. He’d been in a similar accident, but unlike Ben, his body had never recovered enough to compete again. Spinal injuries were unforgiving, Poe was lucky to even walk.

“Maybe you just need a bit of motivation…” Poe replies, gaze turning to the beach.

Rey, paddling faster than Hux and Phasma, had made it to shore, her short-board tucked under her arm as she jogs towards them.

Lithe, lean muscled, the top of her unzipped wetsuit gathered around her slim, toned waist. She wears a rust coloured triangle bikini top that matches her bronzy, freckled skin perfectly. Her chestnut and sea-bleached hair is tied back in a haphazard bun, little strands of wet curls sticking to a face that is at once regal and playful. Wide brown eyes, high cheekbones, pert nose heavily dusted with freckles and full lips.

Not brown. Green-gold. Her eyes are spun gold with shards of emerald.

Her smile is blinding, Ben’s heart dropping in his stomach at the sight.

There’s a tattoo on her left shoulder, a polynesian style whale, and birds flying up her ribs. He thinks of his own tattoos, the maori shark with traditional patterns on his arm and shoulder, and the tahitian birds around his ankles. It's such a weird coincidence it hardly feels real.

He suddenly is a little bitter at how ill prepared Rose had made him with her claims that she was _cute._ Rey isn’t cute, she’s _gorgeous_ , and Ben isn’t too sure on how to deal with that fresh information.

When those beautiful eyes land on his face, there is no sadness, no pity. Her eyes don’t even go to that scar bisecting the right side of his face. There is only the kind of pure happiness one can get when riding a ten foot wave flawlessly on her lovely features.

It’s refreshing.

“Ben Solo!” she calls out, her voice clear as a bell, coming to stand before him in all her bronzed glory, offering a small hand, “I am so glad to finally meet you.”

When he takes the proffered hand in his much larger one, her fingers are cool and her grip strong, and she is smiling so beautifully, the heart already in his stomach dropping down to his heels.

Ben Solo is in _trouble_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading y'all <3 kudos and comments keep the brain churning and the fingers typing...<3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday friends! I'm still self isolating at home, all the cool summer festivals are cancelled, life is a shitshow but whatever, at least there's fanfics...Have an update!
> 
> Who else thinks that Gwendoline Christie looks like a princess plucked straight out of a renaissance painting?! That woman is a living work of art...and I have a fine arts BA so I’ve stared at a lot of really beautiful artwork...ahem!
> 
> Already at the halfway point! There will be mentions of drinking and light, recreational marijuana consumption in this. I’m guessing I should tag this as “underage drinking” for my american readers, as Rey is 19 in this, but I’m Canadian and in my province you can drink at 18, same for Tahiti actually. So yeah...off we go!

Rey’s first impression of Ben Solo is that he’s  _ tall. _

She’s seen his height and weight on paper, in one of those profiles surf magazines like to make about pros in the circuit. She’s read more features about  _ Kylo Ren  _ than she cares to admit to.

But those figures on paper don’t translate to how massive Ben is in the flesh. Towering over her, shoulders so broad and his bare torso heavy with toned muscle. And yet, he is a lot less intimidating in person. She’s used to seeing him scowl for the cameras, but this open, surprised expression on his face does things to her insides that strangely feels like butterflies.

The fact that they have similar tattoos, the bold black lines of a Maori shark jumping from shoulder to pectoral in a pattern mirroring her own Polynesian whale is a bit dizzying. 

_ What are the odds?  _ She asks herself, bewildered.

He’s not just a mythical figure she’d only ever read about or seen on her phone screen, he’s also human, with warm hands that return her handshake with firmness, and a shy smile that digs a dimple in his cheek. 

He has the most beautiful amber eyes she had ever seen, and the glossy dark hair that graze his shoulders falls in perfect, salt mussed waves.

His voice is the low rumble of thunder, and surprisingly gentle.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Rey.”

She holds onto his hand a fraction too long and it takes Poe clearing his throat to break the spell of his lambent gaze.

“Well well, seems like I won’t have to introduce you two formally after all…” Poe mutters, in a tone far too amused to be neutral.

A cool nose presses on her hand and when she looks down, a huge black and brown dog with liquid black eyes is staring up at her adoringly.

“That’s Chewie, he’s really friendly.”

“Oh! I’ve heard about Chewie! Han’s old dog…”

She crouches to bury her hands in the dog’s fluffy neck and laughs when Chewie licks at her cheek in response.

They’re interrupted by Phasma and Hux getting out of the water, good-naturedly bickering as they jog over to them, closely chased by Bebe.

The odd couple had been introduced by Poe earlier that morning when they’d arrived to catch the first swells. Hux was still competing in the pro-circuit, lean and lanky, with the brightest ginger hair she had ever seen, eyebrows and lashes bleached by salt and sun. Blue-eyed, and unbelievably milk-skinned underneath his black wetsuit, despite spending the bulk of his days in the sun. 

Phasma was taking a sabbatical from competition to recover from a mild shoulder injury, but was still in fighting shape, as tall as Ben Solo and heavily muscled. Striking with her undercut white blonde hair and marine blue eyes, features worthy of a renaissance painting.

They were an interesting duo, constantly bickering in the most playful of ways, and had been more than happy to offer Rey helpful pointers on a hydrographic map that was brand new to her. 

She’d had a few concerns about coming to Tahiti on her own, not really knowing what to expect, but had been comforted when the pair had immediately taken to her company. 

“Solo, you missed all the morning swells...” Hux admonishes, unzipping the neck of his wetsuit.

Ben runs a hand through his lovely hair, shrugging his shoulders.

“I had a late night, there’s always more in the afternoon. Besides, I need to try that new board…”

“It’s a beauty isn’t it!” Phasma cuts in, walking over to the board laid out in the sand, “Your dad is the best at making boards.”

There’s a collective moment of reverent admiration as Ben hefts up the board. Han really  _ is _ the best at crafting the finest of boards. 

The silent admiration is interrupted by the arrival of Paige Tico, her long brown hair tucked under a black baseball cap, hefting a huge neon orange cooler across the hot sand. She is wearing a cropped tee and acid washed cut-offs, and to Rey’s constant puzzlement, no flip flops or shoes of any kind.

Shoes seem optional in Tahiti. Ben isn’t wearing any either. Ben isn’t wearing much at all, actually, and that’s when her traitorous face decides to heat up.

“I got you losers drinks! Oh hello Ben, did you just get here?” Paige asks, dropping the plastic cooler in the sand and prying the white top open.

“Just did yeah, I got your message though…I have to agree with you on that.” he smirks, playfully, his gaze falling on her again and Rey feels like she’s been punched in the gut.

Leia and Han are good looking, gracefully aging people, it was no surprise that their son was a handsome man. She just hadn’t expected their progeny to have that kind of magnetic attractiveness that went beyond looks.

“Hmhmm…” Paige replies cryptically, looking over at Rey and smiling too.

What was in that text message, Rey was dying to know.

“I’ve brought a bunch of beers, soda...I got pineapple juice for Finn, is he still out there?” 

“He’s waiting for the other lifeguard to pull in, shouldn’t be very long.” Phasma replies, grabbing Paige by the hip in a gesture at once flirty and possessive.

The kiss that followed wasn’t  _ just _ flirty.

“Let’s take a little break and we can head back to the water in the afternoon.” Poe offers, heading to the pickup truck to get a few snacks and towels.

They all settle in the sand except Ben, who hefts the new board under his arm.

“I’m gonna give this guy a quick try in smaller waves, I’ll be back in a few.”

Rey watches him jog to the edge of the water, tries not to stare at his backside when he ties the board leash around his ankle. Sliding in the water as graceful as the shark on his shoulder. 

She watches him paddling out, quick and efficient, the span of his arms twice hers. There’s excitement coiling in her belly at the thought of watching a true champion from this close, seeing him ride the waves on that orca board.

Sitting down in the sand, she hardly notices when Poe settles beside her, handing her a cold soda. She grabs it absentmindedly.

“He’s not what you expected?” Poe asks, popping open his own drink.

Rey smirks, watching Ben’s graceful form gliding into the blue waters.

“No. He’s better.”

* * *

Rey is mesmerized, sitting on her board in the calm waters.

Ben glided down the face of the waves so effortlessly, riding the edge of the glassy barrels until the wave closed on his dark form. Her heart would stop for a second, until he emerged from the white froth at the other end, looking like he’d conquered the world. 

“I haven’t seen him be like that in a long time.” Phasma muses, resting belly down on her own board.

They were done for the day, enjoying the last rays of sunlight on the water, away from the surging waves. She could have paddled back to shore after her last ride, but how could she when she had so much to observe. His technique, how he balanced his tall frame on the small board, his body a well honed machine. It was fascinating to say the least.

“What do you mean?” Rey asks, reluctantly taking her eyes away from Ben’s paddling form to look at the tall blonde.

“He’s so...happy. It’s like having the old Ben back. He hasn’t been this confident on a wave in months.”

“Oh, really?”

Phasma sits up on her board, her long legs lazily swaying through the water.

“I don’t think he’d ever admit to it, even to friends, but the accident changed him. I mean, he was someone else entirely when Snoke took over his career, and not someone I particularly liked.” she scowls, “But the Ben I met fifteen years ago...he had that hunger, that ambition, there was no wave he couldn’t master. After the accident, he’d look at a barrel and I could tell he was  _ scared.  _ He had that fear in his eyes. He’s been getting better, but today is the first time in ages that I’m seeing him go for it like the good old days. It's nice.”

Rey has a hard time imagining Ben Solo being afraid of a wave, not trusting the water that carried him so high.

“Maybe it’s that new board…” Rey muses, turning to look at Ben paddling over to them, missing the smirk Phasma sends her way.

“Yeah, maybe it is.”

* * *

When everyone is ashore and changed into dry clothes, Poe, Paige and Phasma disappear to get dinner from Cafe Tico for everyone, while Finn and Hux go off to find branches for a little bonfire on a secluded stretch of the beach.

Chewie and Bebe are completely knackered, sleeping soundly on beach towels in the open trunk of Ben’s truck, parked a few yards away.

“It's gonna be nice to sit around a fire and watch the sunset, just like my childhood in Hawaii…” Rey muses, gathering round stones for the fire pit.

Ben, wearing a loose black tank that bares his muscular arms, and worn black jeans with rolled cuffs, still shoeless on the hot sand, perks up from his own task of arranging the found wood in a sturdy pile.

“Did you grow up on Oahu?” he asks, arranging a pyramid of twigs and bigger branches that promises a slow burning pyre.

“Big Island, in Hilo.”

“I’m realizing that you have been training with my uncle for three years but I don’t know a single thing about you…”

Rey laughs, rolling some bigger rocks over to where Ben is working.

“You know your uncle...I think he enjoys popping up at a championship and springing a new trainee no one’s ever heard about like an old hippie jack in the box.”

Ben snorts, grabbing one of the big rocks she had been rolling around with two hands and lifting it, rather effortlessly, to the other side of the pit. The ease of his gesture makes Rey’s mouth go a little dry.

_ He’s so fucking strong, fuck…he could pick me up without breaking a sweat. _

The intrusive thought makes Rey’s face burn and she’s thankful for the ambient light from the sunset already tinting her skin pink.

“Yeah, I’m familiar with my uncle’s methods. It's what made me leave to go with Snoke in the first place. I felt like...he was holding me back for the wrong reasons. I’d ask to compete, but Luke was always like ‘you’re not ready, a little more training and we’ll see…’, when Snoke came around and dangled championships and sponsors in front of me, young stupid Ben bought it hook line and sinker.”

“I was approached by Snoke once, it was maybe a year after I started training with your uncle. I’m guessing he has eyes and ears in Pe’ahi.”

Ben pauses, looking at her intently across the half built fire pit. His amber gaze is mesmerizing, capturing hers so easily, the setting sun gilding his sharp features with gold.

“That was at the height of my career...I always wondered if he was seeking other talent. I wasn’t privy to his searches.”

Rey shudders, thinking of that mid-morning call from an unlisted number on her cell phone. 

“He was so...oily. I felt like even talking to him made me dirty, I don’t even know... And the stuff he dangled in front of me was just completely unrealistic. I grew up in extreme poverty, I know the value of hard labour, building up to stuff. He promised me a championship first place within months, and I was just like…’are you gonna surf for me then? Because I’m not ready!’ this guy was so phony…I told him to get fucked and forget my number.”

Rey notices how still and quiet Ben has gotten and she thinks that she’s royally messed up for a second, until she realizes that Ben is holding back laughter.

When it breaks through, his chuckles are full bellied and honest. And so contagious she can’t help but chuckle too.

“Wow…” he wheezes, wiping at his eyes, “You told Snoke to get fucked...that’s pretty great. He must’ve been so pissed. No one ever told him no…but I’m glad you did.” he murmurs, with a little smile that makes her insides feel like she’s swallowed the sun.

Ben makes her feel so  _ warm _ , like her skin is too small to contain her and she can’t for the life of her explain why the attraction is so instantaneous. Maybe she’s a little starstruck, thinking of the five years she’s spent closely watching his career, all the features she’d read about him in magazines. Even the online forum gossip here and there.

Ben Solo is a surfing god, and she can’t quite wrap her head around the fact that he’s here, with her, laughing with her and looking at her with those dark, luscious eyes.

She wants to ask him what it was like, working for Snoke, who promised him the top of the world, and abandoned him in his downfall. She has a million questions, burning her tongue, but they are interrupted by Hux and Finn loudly emerging from the dry sage bushes with armloads of dry wood.

“Hey hey, what have you been telling Ben to make him laugh like that?” Hux teases, dropping the branches and twigs beside their makeshift fire pit, “I don’t think I’ve heard him laugh like that in this century…”

“Aww come on, you make him sound like he’s so serious…” Finn admonishes, grabbing Ben, who now sports a long-suffering look on his features, by the shoulder, “Ben has laughed at least once in the last 50 years.”

“You two are idiots.” Ben grouses, accepting the teasing nonetheless.

Rey feels like things weren’t always this laid back with him. Kylo Ren wouldn’t have tolerated that kind of teasing, she’s pretty sure he would have just left. But Ben Solo stays, laughs, pushes the two other guys around playfully as they keep putting together the bonfire.

Rey has a lot of questions for Ben Solo, but they can wait, grinning as she watches him chase Finn on the beach with a handful of slimy seaweed, the two of them lugging playful insults.

The questions can wait.

* * *

Later, when they are quite full of the barbecued meat, marinated raw fish and sweet potatoes that Paige had finagled from the Café Tico kitchen, her sister Rose in tow, Finn produces a guitar from the back of his van.

Rey sees Poe’s eyes light up like fireworks at the sight. He’d always had a thing for musicians, even of the amateur persuasion.

Finn was pretty new to lifeguarding at Teahupoo, she’d gathered from their conversations. He’d arrived roughly at the same time as Ben did, after many years of lifeguarding on Moorea and Bora Bora. He’d gotten tired of catering to tourists, and had developed an interest in surfing, especially when there was such a high demand for tow-in surfing at Teahupoo. As a Tahiti native, it made sense for him to return to the island where he was born. It was no surprise he had become fast friends with the little crew, his happy disposition and sharp comebacks made him fun to be around.

Besides, it was always good form to be friendly with the guy who swooped in to rescue when someone wiped the hell out on a ten foot wave.

All of them are comfortably settled around the lively blaze, Paige and Phasma leaning against each other on camp chairs, Rose, Hux and Poe sprawled on a huge beach blanket, and Finn seated on a round rock they’d all rolled to the spot. 

Ben is beside her, she’s not quite sure how it happened. Maybe it was when he came over to her dragging a huge piece of driftwood, and she’d helped him position it close to the blaze. It just made sense to sit down on it after her efforts, didn’t it?

Finn is gently strumming the strings, the sound carried by the salty breeze and punctuated with the crackling of the fire. The sun is low in the horizon, the sky a purply blue melting in the encroaching night.

They’re sprawled together on her thick woven beach blanket, Ben with his legs stretched out in front of him, leaning back against the big chunk of driftwood. Unsurprisingly they’d ended up sitting on the blanket in the warm sand instead of on the log, in comfortable silence while everyone around the fire chattered softly.

Rey was here to train but this felt like a really nice vacation, and she wasn’t mad about it, pleasantly buzzed from the beers Poe had allowed her to have.

_ “It's all legal here, sweetheart, you’re over 18, but please don’t tell Luke…” _

Her cotton clad shoulder is touching Ben’s bare one, and he’d radiating heat despite the cool ambient air, the contrast sending her whole body shivering and he notices, turns his gorgeous face to hers.

“Cold?” he asks, gently, mouth a little too close to her ear and her stomach coils with delicious anticipation.

Just like when she’s about to drop down a wave. Ben is making her heart race.

“A little. I should have brought a hoodie, I didn’t expect the heat to drop this much.” she laughs.

“When the sun goes down, it can get a little chilly with the wind. Hold on…”

Ben gets up and lopes over to his truck, fishing for something in the back seat and comes back with a dark grey hoodie, emblazoned with a famous surfing company logo.

“It’s probably a little big for you, but it’s gonna keep you warm.”

He guides the oversized hoodie over her head and she freezes for a second, not expecting that he would go ahead and literally  _ help  _ her into the soft garment. But he does, holding the sleeves for her to get her arms into them, smoothing it down her agile figure with his warm hands.

The inside of the hoodie is soft, cozy fleece, and as she hugs it closer to her body, the distinctly coconut and salt scent of sunscreen wafts up from the fabric. Along with something fresh and grassy, a fancy body wash maybe, and the delightful scent of clean skin.

The fact that he’s already worn this, that it still smells like him makes her head spin, blood rushing to her face.

“Better now?” he asks, reclaiming his spot beside her and she feels so flustered all she can do is nod in response.

Finn is still strumming aimlessly, just letting his fingers drift on the frets and Rey just feels like she could fall asleep right there, bolstered by the wood and Ben’s body, warm and belly full of good food. The soothing crash of the waves, the crackling of the fire.

It was hard to be uncomfortable in such perfect conditions.

“Come on Finn, play me a song!” Rose whines, clearly a little tipsy, sitting up on the blanket and falling halfway across Hux’s legs, who grunts but gently puts her upright, “You know which one…”

“Ugh, you’re really gonna make me play that cheesy song? Fine…” he grouses, fingers starting to pluck a familiar pattern.

Its only when Finn starts singing the words that Rey recognizes the Coldplay song. He has a nice voice that complements the rich sound of the guitar, but somehow its not nearly as nice as hearing Ben singing along softly.

_ Your skin _

_ Oh yeah, your skin and bones _

_ Turn into something beautiful _

_ You know, you know I love you so _

She’s always liked that song, and somehow it works with Ben’s barytone, even if its octaves below the song’s range. Ben’s voice is like the low rumble of thunder, so soothing. Rey is amused to see that Poe is equally entranced by Finn’s impromptu concert, ignoring the rolled blunt that Rose points his way for far too long.

When her eyes fall shut, Finn is playing another song, gentler, softer and she is too sleepy to be self conscious when her head falls against Ben’s warm shoulder, his low voice humming in her ear.

* * *

Coldplay's [Yellow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKNxeF4KMsY)

[Tow-In Surfing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tow-in_surfing)

[Ma'a Tahiti](https://www.tasteatlas.com/most-popular-dishes-in-tahiti)

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are starting to get interesting...don't worry, you won't have to wait much longer for some juicy stuff, my fingers are itching to write the cute porn. I'm such trash. 
> 
> Alright y'all hang in there and see y'all next week, remember that comments and kudos save lives!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey! Happy Friday y'all! How is everyone holding up? Social distancing measures are still a requirement and will be for a while where I live, so there is still plenty of time for me to write...I am going a little stir crazy though >_< I'm a very active person and it's hard being cooped up and not able to expend all that extra energy at the gym like I normally would. Ugh!
> 
> This update is more cute, romance-y things, and I'm assuming y'all have noticed the chapter count going up? I actually just wanted to fit a little more porn in this cute story tbqh and it's earning it's "E" rating in the next chapter...so yeah. This isn't a slow burn, more like fireworks and it all blows next week ahhhh!
> 
> No warnings for this chapter, just cheesy cuteness and Rose being a well meaning, meddling witch. Enjoy!

When he set out to surf that morning, Ben hadn’t predicted that he would end up sitting on a beach in the early hours of morning with a pretty girl sleeping soundly against him. 

What was supposed to be a few beers at sunset had extended far into the night, the lot of them playing songs and enjoying the fire until it was reduced to glowy embers. Poe had gone home earlier, yawning wide enough to crack his jaw.

Ben had promised to drive Rey home when they were done at the fire, not wanting to disturb the small figure sleeping soundly against him.

Poe had shrugged, amused, and had promised he’d leave the front door to Maz’s villa open.

Little by little, everyone had gone home, until all that was left was the red glow of the dying fire, Rose and Hux sharing the contents of a silver flask, and Rey, her head pillowed in his lap. The grey hoodie swallowed her limber body, her freckled skin glowing in the amber lights.

“She’s cute, hm?” Rose asks, her keen eyes spotting Ben’s finger tracing a strand of Rey’s soft hair spilled on his thigh.

“Yeah...she is.” he replies, knowing that to even demur from it would  _ never _ fool Rose.

“Are you gonna...you know?” Hux asks, suddenly very interested by the conversation.

“What do you mean?”

“You  _ know _ ...woo her a little bit, work that Solo magic.”

Ben snorts, softly not to wake the sleepy girl.

“What are you even talking about…”

Hux sits up like he’s on a spring loaded board.

“Oh my god you know what I mean! That crazy innate skill you Solo men have charming women…”

“I don’t know about that.”

“Oh come on, Phasma had the hots for your dad when we were teens, and she’s a lesbian, so don’t feed me that crap. You definitely got a bit of that charm.”

“We’ll see. She’s here chasing her dreams, I don’t want to get in the way of that…we hardly know each other. Everyone is a bit quick to assume what  _ we _ want.”

Rose smiles at that, leaning towards them.

“ I think that you could be part of that dream, if you really want to. And you’re not gonna fool me if you say you just want to be friends. We all saw how you were today, Ben. Rey is  _ special _ . ”

Maybe Rose had a point there, but would he find it in him? Looking at the trustingly sleeping girl in his lap, maybe she was worth giving it a try.

* * *

Rey doesn’t wake when he hoists her up to take her to his truck. 

She’s lighter than he had expected, even relaxed in sleep. Fitting just right against his chest, one arm under the crook of her knees and the other supporting her back.

There’s a murmur of protest, but then she snuggles against him and is instantly lost to dreams again.

“A deep sleeper hm?” he murmurs, carefully prodding the passenger door of the truck open with a finger.

Her eyes crack open when he sits her down, sharp brows furrowed.

“I don’t want to go to school…” she mumbles in weak protest, and Ben can’t help but laugh.

“I’m not taking you to school, go back to sleep…” he reassures, strapping her in carefully before making his way over to the driver’s seat. 

Chewie is snoring peacefully in the backseat, but he stirs a little when he turns the engine on.

“We’re going home old man, just dropping off precious cargo first…”

It's a short drive to Maz’s, five minutes, and there’s no one on the road this early. Rey sleeps the whole way, slumped in the seat and Ben is amazed at how easily she fell asleep and at the depth of her slumber.

She doesn’t wake when he parks in front of the familiar villa, and barely stirs when he picks her up again from the truck.

The door is unlocked as promised, he manages to push down the handle with an elbow and he heads in the familiar living room, dimly lit from multiple orange salt lamps. 

He remembers licking one as a kid from a bet with old Maz and laughs at the memory.

Bebe is asleep on the large rust coloured couch, lifts her little head with a low grunt when he comes in, but goes right back to sleep when she realizes the intruder is a friend.

“Quite the guard dog, are you?” he teases, making his way across the living room to the staircase.

The wooden stairs creak under his weight as he ascends, and he then heads towards the room with the open door, also warmly illuminated by a huge candle on the nightstand. He’s careful as ever as he lays his sleepy charge on the undone white bed, removing her slip-on shoes and socks, before draping the coverlet on her tanned legs. He crouches beside the bed, moves strands of brown hair away from Rey’s eyes, lashes thickly fanned on freckled cheeks.

She  _ is _ cute. He sees it now, when her features are relaxed with sleep, showing her youthfulness. Rey is a lot of things and he’s not quite sure how to manage all that information at once. For the first time in years, Ben is overwhelmed by a girl, and he doesn’t have a clue on how to deal with it.

That’s when Rey’s eyes crack open again, just as he’s tucking the errant strand of hair behind her ear, their faces a little closer than is proper, maybe.

“Hey…” she whispers, “did I fall asleep back there?” she asks, confused.

Ben chuckles.

“You did, I just brought you home.”

“Aw Ben...y’all should’ve woken me up…”

Her sentence is punctuated with a jaw cracking yawn that just makes him laugh harder.

“You looked very comfy, and you seemed tired, so we let you rest.”

“It was a big day I guess, and I don’t drink often. Thanks for bringing me home...did you have to carry me?” she asks, realizing that she’s in her bed.

Her face flushes a lovely shade of pink in the warm candlelight and it makes butterflies dance in Ben’s stomach.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.”

“Ugh…”

“It’s fine,” he reassures, “you’re light as a feather. Go to sleep, we can chat tomorrow.”

Rey reaches in the pocket of her shorts, extracting a phone encased in a cute blue and white whale print cover, handing it over.

“Save your number in there and text yourself, like that you’ll have my number.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah you big dummy...you need to show me all the cool spots to surf, your mom said you would.”

“Ah she did, did she?” Ben replies, amused, entering his phone number in her contacts and sending himself a quick text.

“Hmmhmm...so now you have to.”

“Will do. But for now you have to sleep.”

“Alright…”

Her eyes close of their own accord, her lips curled in a pleased smile, and she’s probably already back to dreams when he plugs in her phone, blows out the candle and carefully makes his way down the stairs.

When Ben gets back behind the wheel, there’s a smile on his face that doesn’t leave him until he goes to bed.

* * *

The next few days are grey and overcast. 

The ocean lays flat, low pressure clouds crushing the waves. Not the best time for surfing, Ben muses, stepping out on his little rooftop patio.

He was itching for more of that new board.

It had been the first time in ages that he’d gotten up to the wave and didn’t feel like it was about to crush him. The new board, the perfect conditions, the new acquaintances. There had been something in the air, and now that the salt of the ocean was back in his blood, he was itching to get in the water.

Maybe he wanted to see more of that pretty slip of a girl too, zigzagging up and down the waves on her sunshine coloured board.

She’d sent him a little text to thank him the morning after, for driving her home, but it had been pretty quiet on her end after that. He knew that she was here to train, not taking offence to her sporadic messaging but wondering if he’d messed up somewhere along the way. Had he been too much, tucking her into bed instead of waking her as soon as they arrived at Maz’s?

Ben’s experience with dating was limited. He’d been too busy when employed by Snoke to maintain any kind of relationship, and his ex-boss was notoriously vocal against any distractions. Or what he judged to be distractions for his athletes. Girlfriends were high on his list, along with anything remotely fun.

There had been flings, casual sex, but actual dating was a bit of a mystery to him still.

He’s just poured himself a cup of coffee when the phone on the counter rings. He nearly drops the mug, no one ever calls him.

Everyone knows Ben is a texter. Must be an emergency. Or a scam. He grabs the offending piece of tech and eyes the screen.

_ Rey Niima _

“Oh...oh fuck…” Ben mutters, dragging his thumb on the screen before the call drops.

“Hey…”

_ “Hey! Am I calling at a bad time?” _

“No! Not at all, it's just...no one ever calls, I’m more of a texter.” 

_ “Ah...should I text you then?”  _

There’s a teasing, playful tone to her voice that just makes his lips curl up of their own accord.

“Well now that I’ve picked up, you have to make it worth my while.”

She laughs at the other end.

_ “Poe went to Papeete to pick up more gear that he had shipped, I’ve done all my stretches, I even trained for a little bit and I’m boooored…” _

“No surfing today I’m afraid, the ocean is flat as fuck…”

She sighs audibly, long suffering.

_ “I know. Want to go on a run with me?” _

Ben has a wild idea going through his head and before he can even rein in his big mouth, it comes right out.

“How about a hike? There’s a trail I know, a couple miles with a river and waterfalls. Want to check it out?”

There is silence at the other end and for half a second he thinks he’s been too forward and fucked everything. Again.

_ “Oh my god YES! I love hikes! Text me your address and I’ll meet you in an hour or so?” _

Her explosive reaction makes his heart race, and move the phone a couple inches away from his ear.

“Okay, sure. See you soon then.”

_ “See you in a few!” _

* * *

When Rey arrives on that rusty old bike, Ben can’t help but laugh. He knows that bike really well, he’s even ridden it a few times, when he’d been much, much smaller.

“I didn’t know Maz still had that piece of junk lying around.” he teases, grabbing the ends of the handlebar as she gets off.

“It’s getting me places! A little rust won’t hurt me.”

Rey wears black leggings and a mint green tee with tiny palm trees printed on it, her hair in a messy bun, and round sunglasses with duochrome mirrored lenses. Her cheeks are flushed from the ride and she looks absolutely lovely.

“Right, as long as you have a recent tetanus shot. I’ll put it in my yard and off we go.”

“You have a really cool house…” she remarks, eyeing his shipping container home from all angles. 

It was pretty modest in size, and simply furnished, but it was his. Built and bought with his own money, on a little plot of land by the ocean. It wasn’t much, but he loved it.

“Thanks, my dad helped me build it, I can be pretty hopeless with power tools. I sketched out the plans though...”

“That’s awesome! And you’re right on the beach too…”

“That’s always been non-negotiable for me. I grew up by the water, I was never happy when I lived far from it.”

“Same. The ocean is my happy place.”

There’s that happy smile curling her lips and the butterflies in Ben’s stomach are doing somersaults. He locks up the old bike in the yard and walks back to Rey, grabbing the truck keys from his pocket and dangling them to her.

“Can you drive stick?”

“Yes!”

“Want to drive us there?”

“YES!"

* * *

The start of the trail is a mile inland, away from the main road. There’s a dusty, unpaved road that leads to a clearing where Rey parks the truck. 

No other cars there, they’ll be alone on the trail. Not many people come to Tahiti to hike, the main appeal of the island is beaches and diving, exploring underwater reefs, and of course surfing.

But Ben was a California boy through and through. He liked being in the woods almost as much as he did the water, and in the first few weeks of his Tahiti residency, he had spent hours mapping his favourite trails. He shoulders his backpack, and off they go, Rey striding ahead of him with the excitement of a child discovering a new universe.

The trail goes up the side of a hill, the green cover of tropical trees dimming the weak light of the overcast sun in green shadows. The humid air is thick with the scent of jasmine and bougainvillea clinging to the trees. 

“It's so  _ quiet _ here…” Rey murmurs, almost reverently, keeping pace with him up the steep trail.

“There’s not a lot of wildlife above water in Tahiti. There’s sea birds, but they don’t go that far inland.”

“How long have you been here again?” she asks, grabbing his offered hand to help her over a thick root.

“Almost a year now.”

“Why Tahiti? I mean...I get it, look at this place, and the waves here are amazing. But why so far from everyone.”

Ben thinks hard about his answer, he had a million reasons but they were hard to articulate.

“I guess I just needed to get away. I just...I was never really good at being in the public eye. I’m sure you’ve seen what I used to act like when there was a camera shoved in my face.”

“Yeah...Kylo Ren was scary as fuck.”

He cringes, hearing the name of his dreaded alter-ego.

“But Ben Solo is really nice. I like him.”

His stomach feels like it’s doing backflips, heart throbbing.

“I’m glad you do.”

They’ve reached a little clearing and she pauses, turning to him, tugging on the hem of his tee playfully.

“Thank you for taking me home the other night, it was really sweet of you.”

His face is burning. So he hadn’t been that much of a fuck up, had he?

“It’s fine, it wasn’t a chore at all.”

“You didn’t have to.”

“But I wanted to.”

She bites her lower lip, tugs him a bit closer and when her arms wrap around his waist in a hug, he feels like his soul is leaving his body.

“It was still a nice thing to do for someone you barely know.”

His arms loop around her shoulders. She’s so small, willowy, her hair smells like monoi shampoo and he wants to bury his nose in it.

“I’d like to get to know you better, if you want.”

“Yeah,” she murmurs against his chest, “I’d like that.”

* * *

They make it halfway up the trail when the clouds overhead decide to spill down on their heads in thick, heavy drops that rattle the leaves. The cover is too thick to let much water through, but the trail is getting muddy and slippery.

“We’re not quite at the top but we should probably head back, the trail is only gonna get worse.” 

Rey pouts at his words, but nods in agreement. He pinches her cheek playfully.

“Don’t frown, we’ll come back on a sunnier day.”

“What are we gonna do with the rest of our day?” she asks, following him down the trail.

“How about food at Cafe Tico?”

Just as the word “food” comes out of his mouth, her stomach lets out a gurgling protest. She laughs, patting her stomach.

“I can never say no to food…”

They slip and slide back down the trail and reach the clearing where the truck is parked just as the rain picks up, falling in thick sheets down from the clouds. They run to the landcruiser and hop in, a futile effort not to get any wetter than they actually are, drenched from the storm, giggling like kids at their muddy selves and wet hair. Rey’s tee is just damp enough to show the outline of a dark bralette through the pale fabric, and Ben feels his face flushing when he notices, trying very hard to keep his gaze above her neck when she reaches up to free her wet locks from their elastic.

He’s seen her in a bikini, he knows what her body looks like, but that hint of something more intimate, something he’s not exactly meant to see makes blood rush south of his belly button, and that’s a thing he  _ definitely _ doesn’t want her to notice. He starts the truck and gets his focus on the road, trying very hard to force his body to calm down a little bit.

He hasn’t been with anyone except his own two hands since the accident, and he’s starting to feel a little pent up, thinking of how intensely he’d reacted to her hugging him earlier. His brain had immediately told him  _ more _ .  _ Give me more of that delicious human contact _ . That need had been easy to keep quiet, until Rey came along, with her easy touches and her hugs and her cute smile. 

He’s in deep trouble. Maybe even more than he’d initially surmised.

Café Tico is just a short ride away, and when they run in, Rose is at the counter, clearly bored out of her mind, the shop empty. She notices them entering and immediately grins in a predatory way he’s only seen on her when she’s heavily meddling in someone’s personal life. If there’s one thing Rose loves, it’s playing matchmaker. His heart jumps in his chest when Rey takes his hand in hers, pulling him behind her without a fuss, comfortable with the gesture.

“Hey Rose,” he greets, looking around the café only to see that there isn’t a single other patron in the place.

“Well well, look at you two hanging out on a rainy day…” she teases as they walk up to the counter, grinning wider at his blushing cheeks and Rey’s hand in his, “Looks like you two got a good taste of the storm.”

“Ben took me on a hike!” Rey replies, her happy tone making heat bloom in his chest, along with her small hand going up his arm to clasp his shoulder, “We had to turn around when the rain got too bad though. We decided to come here for food instead.”

“Dang, I just sent the cook home for the day since it’s dead. I was about to close, I’ll make you your usual drinks though…”

Rey’s stomach makes a comically loud protesting sound at Rose’s words and the dark haired girl bursts out laughing, Rey flushing to the roots of her hair.

“Oh my, you should have Ben make you some lunch at his place, he’s a great cook.” Rose hints, walking over to the coffee machine as she sends a meaningful look Ben’s way.

He doesn’t have time to feel murderous towards the meddling witch, too distracted by Rey grabbing his arm excitedly.

“You never told me you liked to cook!”

“Just a little hobby, I’m not that great…”

“He’s way too modest!” Rose pipes from behind the steaming machine, and Ben wants to strangle her. 

“How about we take our drinks to go and we head back to your place for food? No pressure though, I don’t want to force it if you don’t feel like it. I have food at the villa too.”

She looks at him with that little hopeful gleam in her eyes and he couldn’t for the life of him refuse her anything.

“Sure, let’s go to my place.”

It takes all of his self-control not to scowl at Rose’s little pleased grin. The witch always gets her way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments save lives! Thank you for reading and see y'all for the fireworks next week <3 xoxo


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof guys I had a crazy day, sorry for the late update >_< I really hope the smut in this chapter more than makes up for it ahhhhhh! This story is so fluffy and plotless lol I should be ashamed of posting such trash tbh.
> 
> Warnings: THERE IS EXPLICIT SEXUAL CONTENT AND LANGUAGE HERE FOLKS! Also: mentions of an underage Rey losing her virginity/having sex with similarly aged people. Not graphic or traumatic at all, just glossed over in passing, but I'm guessing it might make some people uncomfortable so I'm mentioning it. And another thing: I alpha read/edited this on far too little sleep and too much coffee so I apologize for any weird stuff/typos/nonsense.
> 
> Anyhoo please enjoy this offering of hot garbage...

* * *

There were a lot of lunches at Ben Solo’s house over the next few weeks, after that one rainy afternoon.

He’d made her a nice pasta dish and made her promise not to tell Dameron about the glass of wine he’d let her drink, the two of them looking over old competition footage all afternoon on his big tv. They’d laughed a lot, feeling him relax around her had been such a treat.

So just like that, a friendship was built, daily calls and mornings on the waves, evening bonfires with the crew.

And lots of home cooked food. Rose hadn’t been kidding when she said that Ben was good in the kitchen. There had been suggestions that he was good at  _ a lot  _ of things, especially when Rey was having a beer with Phasma, Paige and Rose at Café Tico after hours. Those conversations made her blush too much for her liking.

When it was nice and sunny out, they would surf, and then Ben would cook.

Sometimes there would be a crowd with them, everyone sitting on the ocean facing deck on the roof of his house, playing guitar and drinking ice cold beer while Ben took good natured grilling advice from Poe. Sometimes it was only the two of them, in wetsuits by the ocean, boards propped on his fence, sitting in the sand, munching on sandwiches before heading back to the clear blue waters. Both knackered by a morning of attacking the waves and bright sun on their skin but still racing each other to the waves with their boards as soon as the food was done.

There were two weeks left until the Tahiti Pro, and Rey felt in peak form, training everyday, getting plenty of practice on Teahupoo’s huge barrels. And she had Ben Solo, retired pro, by her side, giving her invaluable advice whenever she asked. He never pushed, humble with his own considerable experience, but always replied honestly when she asked. 

They had their moments. 

Rey wondered if she was imagining it all, when Ben went out of his way to touch her, when he seemed to smile only for her benefit. There were a lot of pretty girls in Tahiti, instagram influencers in pretty bikinis and locals with golden skin and silky dark hair. They  _ for sure _ noticed him, but when she looked over at Ben, he only had eyes for her.

Or so it felt like, at the very least. She wasn’t bothered by it one bit, but wondered if she was ready to take the plunge. If going for it would be a mistake. What if Ben is just being nice for the sake of it?

Rey is mulling over those thoughts, thinking of amber eyes and dimples, and how nice it would be to get touched by those big hands, when Poe calls her down for breakfast, interrupting her pleasant reverie.

A delicious scent of crispy bacon and freshly brewed coffee emanates from the downstairs kitchen and Rey jumps down the stairwell two steps at a time, stomach gurgling.

“So, what’s the plan for today?” Rey asks, piling bacon and scrambled eggs on a plate as she settles on a bar stool at the granite island, stuffing a piece of pineapple in her mouth.

“You can take a rest day, you’ve trained really hard and I don’t want you overworked and getting injured. Two weeks to the pros…I want you in the best shape possible.”

“So I can surf for fun today then…”

Poe snorts, pouring her a generous cup of coffee and handing it over.

“Sure, but you have to be careful, and find yourself company, I’m heading to Papeete with Finn today.”

“Ohhhhh are you  _ really _ ?” Rey asks, pointedly, and Poe, her flirty, forever single seductor extraordinaire of a coach flushes a pretty pink. 

“He has stuff to do in town and I have to pick up things, don’t get any ideas.”

Rey chortles, nearly choking on her coffee.

“Right…Poe, I might be young, but I’m not  _ innocent _ . Anyone with eyes can see what you two are up to.”

Poe’s hands clench on his coffee mug and Rey cannot think of a single time when she’s seen her coach that flustered.

“Are we  _ that _ obvious?”

“So you  _ are _ dating him?” she asks, teasingly, feeling devious.

Poe looks at her with murder in his dark eyes and she bursts out laughing.

“I’m messing with you Poe. Of course everyone knows, you two are as discreet as a fog horn. And the more you try to hide it the more obvious it is. Did you think your act the other morning fooled me?”

Finn had been sleeping over, and pretended to arrive early in the morning before she got up. Multiple times. It was a bit clumsy for two adults to sneak around like that, but it was definitely cute. Poe looks genuinely distressed at her words.

“We thought we were doing an okay job, does it bother you?”

Rey sends her coach a disbelieving stare.

“Why would you think it would bother me? You’re a mature adult, I don’t really care who you sleep with, and besides, I like Finn a lot. The two of you are cute, no need to sneak around.”

Poe looks relieved.

“I was worried I was shirking my coaching duties, I haven’t been as focused as I usually am with your training…”

“And I’m not doing any poorly from it, if anything I’m surfing better than ever.” she reassures, grabbing another big piece of pineapple and shoving it in her mouth.

It’s Poe’s turn to look a little devious.

“Yeah, I think that’s because Ben Solo has been coaching you on the side.”

For the second time today she nearly chokes on whatever is in her mouth, her face feels like it’s burning all the way up to the roots of her hair.

“Maybe he has, yeah…very informally.”

“You two work well together from the looks of it.”

She feels like a kid being put on the spot by a curious parent, squirming on her bar stool at Poe’s scrutiny.

“He’s…he’s a really cool guy, an amazing surfer. He’s patient, honest, very gentle. Like when I fuck up and wipe out he’s looking out for me and he gives good advice. Yeah…I like him a lot.”

Poe smirks, crossing his tan arms on his chest.

“Is that so huh? I think you two are doing each other some good, so I’m not getting involved but be careful.”

“What for? Not my first rodeo Poe…”

Poe shrugs, grinning mischievously.

“I can take a bit of heat for letting his prized protégée date his nephew, but if you get pregnant Luke is gonna  _ kill _ me.”

* * *

The ride to Ben’s house feels different when she drives rather than cycling on her creaky bike along the waterfront. Poe and Finn had taken the lifeguard’s little convertible to Papeete, Poe beaming brightly when the red sports car had pulled in front of Maz’s villa. 

It’s a beautiful sunny day in Tahiti, the palm trees gently swaying in the warm breeze, and Rey can feel it in her gut that they’re gonna have an awesome day out on the ocean. Bebe’s head is hanging out the truck window and tasting the salty wind, her tail wagging. They’re both looking forward to seeing Ben, it seems.

She’d texted Ben the second that Poe had driven away on the sinuous road, informing him of her clear schedule. His answer had been simple:

_ Come over! I have an outing idea for us today, bring your board. _

Needless to say, she had thrown on a bikini and a dress, packed sunscreen and stowed her board in the back of the truck before she even had finished texting him back. She parks in his gravel driveway and sees that he’s already out on his porch with Chewie, in a black tank and board shorts, a light backpack slung on his shoulder. He looks good in that bright morning light, sable hair full of amber reflections, skin like pale gold.

The mere sight of him makes her heart race. 

He walks over to her when she gets out of the truck, enfolding her in a hug that smells like clean skin and sunscreen. Rey feels like she could stay like this all day and not find a single thing to complain about.

“How was your morning?” he asks, letting her go and she almost feels bereft at the loss of his touch.

“I finally told Poe he and Finn could stop sneaking around the villa like teenagers with a curfew.”

Ben lets out a bark of laughter, heading back to the porch to get his board, Bebe running excited circles around him and Chewie. 

“And how did that go?”

It’s her turn to laugh, prying open the tailgate.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Poe blush like that. He was beet red, it was awesome.”

She opens the cab door to let in both dogs, and settles in the passenger seat of the truck, dangling the keys for Ben to grab through the window.

“I have no idea where we’re going, so I’ll let you drive.”

“At your service ma’am.” he jokes, kissing her fingers as he grabs the keys.

Rey’s heart stops for a second, feeling the imprint of soft lips on her knuckles, even after he pulls away to get to the driver’s side. She knows he wasn’t serious just now, but the way his mouth touched her skin makes her tingle all over, her stomach clenching.

Ben adjusts the seat and the mirrors, gives her a playful look as he covers his amber gaze with wayfarers and turns on the radio.

“Off we go!”

They drive back up the island. Past Teahupoo, already crowded despite the early morning hour. 

More surfers had arrived in Tahiti during the week, prepping for the pro competition, and some of the best swells were early in the day. They drive past the tanned, blonde crowd and around the island, the population getting denser as they head North towards Taravao. They make a stop in the busting town to refill the tank, pick up beer and snacks from the convenience store and let the dogs out. Then Ben drives them back down, on the other side of the island. 

“I haven’t been on the North side of the island yet, is that where we are going?” she asks, twisting in her seat to see past his head obstructing the window and look at the ocean.

Her excited squirming definitely amuses him, laughing as he pushes her down to her seat with a hand on her leg. His hand is so big, it spans the entire width of her thigh, looking pale against her gold and freckle skin. 

“Be patient, I’m taking you to the end of the world…”

“Really?” she asks.

His hand has drifted to her knee, warm and solid, like it belongs there.

“ _ La fin du monde _ , you’ll see soon enough, we’re almost there.”

The French words sound so pretty in his low voice. He knows a fair bit of it, since most of the locals speak it, and every time his mouth curls around the elegant intonations something in her belly heats up. She thinks of him uttering dirty things in that godforsaken language, the blood rising to her cheeks.

His hand stays on her knee, thumb tracing little circles on her skin until they get to the most beautiful beach Rey has ever seen in her life, her jaw dropping. There’s a little settlement on an outcrop, and a few kids playing in the waves. It's the end of the road, nothing past where Ben has parked the truck, sand and rocks.

Just beyond the white sands, across the turquoise water is a surf break. She can see the waves swirling in white curlicues, a sharp right handed barrel. It’s paradise and there is no one but a few kids with boogie boards and a fishing boat anchored on a sandbank.

“Here we are, Rey. You and me, and the end of the world.”

* * *

The local children are only too happy to look after Bebe and Chewie while Rey and Ben paddle out to the break, chasing each other around in a game whose rules are only understood by dogs and children.

The water on this side of the island is clearer and warmer, white sand extending under the water and into the horizon. The waves are also much smaller than at Teahupoo. She forgoes the wetsuit in favour of her palm leaf print bikini, and Ben takes off his tank, baring his impeccably muscled chest. The black shorts fall low on his hips, his lower belly tapering in a defined vee, a fine dusting of dark hair drawing an enticing line starting at his belly button that disappears in the waistband of the shorts. Ben is a good looking man, anyone with functioning eyes can see it clear as day. It’s even more of a mystery to Rey why such a gorgeous specimen of human is still single.

There are scars on his body. Coral lacerations, the burn of a jellyfish sting down his broad back. Lots of little white dots and lines from healed stitches. Surgery scars on his knee. He’d seemed self conscious about them at first, hurrying into wetsuits and shirts when they went out to ride. Letting his long hair obscure that side of his face marred by the long white line that reaches down his neck. For the last few weeks, he’s been more relaxed around her, letting her see him as he is, and that warms her heart.

Ben is beautiful, along with his collection of scars.

They paddle out to the lip of the coral reef where the waves are taking shape and rising from the ocean.

“So you can see this is a right hander, pretty steep on approach but it curls into a small barrel pretty quickly. You have to drop quickly otherwise it shatters on you at the end of the barrel.” Ben explains, motioning with his hands, straddling his orca pattern board.

“So I should go for a steep drop and then right when I hit crest?” she asks, confirming that she understood what he was explaining.

He beams at her, brighter than the sun hitting their shoulders.

“Yes. Go take the first I’ll follow.”

“Okay.” 

The paddle-in is easy, the water working with her to lift her short board up the face of the rising water, and then she is flying down the front of the steep incline, balancing on her board into the wave. This one doesn’t have enough momentum to barrel, so she slaloms across the face of the wave, flicking tails of water left and right, until the surge abates and she lowers herself to her board again, buzzing with adrenaline. When Ben follows, his elegant figure crouches low on the board, getting right into the vortex of the wave, slicing the water. 

Later in the afternoon, after many waves and a couple wipe-outs that leave a few shallow coral cuts on her arms, they paddle away from the break to let the locals enjoy the pretty surf they’ve been hogging all day. Throwing hang ten signs left and right. Ben seems to know a few, saluting them by name punctuated by French greetings and invectives. 

They bring their boards closer to the beach, Ben paddling to the edge while Rey lies on her back on the board, soaking some of the early afternoon sun. Gently rocked by the small waves breaking on the shore. Bebe and Chewie are sleeping under a huge parasol set out by the playing kids, and Ben leaves them to it. He grabs two beers from the truck and hops right back in the water, leisurely paddling to where Rey has drifted in the shallower water.

“I gotta say, “ she announces, sitting up on her board and accepting the beer he’s just cracked open for her, “This is one of my favourite places on this island so far.”

“I'm really glad I brought you here.” Ben replies, sitting on his own board, combing back wet strands from his pretty face.

They knock cans in a playful little cheers, downing the first sip of their beers with shared moans of delight. It wasn’t cold by any stretch of the imagination, but it felt so good on her salt-parched tongue. 

“How did you find this place?” she asks, watching his long legs sway in the water, how they drape off the edge of his board.

“First few weeks I got here. I was too early in my recovery to face a big one like Teahupoo. I asked locals for some relaxed breaks around the island, and a few recommended I come here. Waves are pretty chill, there’s hardly anyone to compete with you for the best waves, and no one can tattle if you wipe the fuck out.”

“It was pretty ideal then, not having anyone know or care who you are.”

Ben is pensive, rotating the can in his big hands. The size of the beer reminds Rey of the ridiculous size of his paws, dwarfing the can entirely.

“Yeah. I didn’t have to impress anyone,’ he pauses, downing another sip, “I could just…enjoy surfing for once. Snoke, he made me hate the sport.”

“What was it like, working for him.”

Ben shrugs, lazily paddling his board closer to face hers.

“It was…a very controlled environment. Snoke doesn’t really train athletes, he trains machines. Brainwashed, ultra performant, championship winning machines. And he expected me to become one too. “

“Doesn’t sound like fun.”

Ben shakes his head, looking down at the blue waters swirling around their legs.

“It wasn’t. I had no free time, no say on sponsor contracts. I wasn’t allowed to get in touch with my parents, or to date people. Every minute of every day was accounted for. It caught up to me, the constant training, then there was the accident.”

Rey reaches across the water between their boards, holding on to his forearm to bring him closer, their boards bumping into each other.

“I was at Jaws, the day it happened. I saw the accident.”

Ben’s eyes lift from the water at her words, surprised.

“You were?”

“Luke wanted to see you surf, he’d heard that you would be there on that day, he took me along with him. I was up on the cliff, I saw the wave swallow you when you fell.” she shudders, remembering the nerve-wracking moments before he emerged, bloody and battered, “It’s one of the scariest things I have ever seen. What  _ happened _ that day, Ben?”

His lambent gaze meets hers, and he sighs, like he’s getting weight off his shoulders.

“I was injured. Stress fracture from overtraining, my knee was shattered. Snoke  _ demanded _ I go out there and compete, because according to him I had to fulfill some sponsorship clause of some kind. So the night before I got pumped full of painkillers and cortisone shots, and went out there with a knee brace underneath my wetsuit. “

Rey is shocked by his words, feeling her jaw drop as she finally understands what she’d witnessed that day, his leg faltering.

“Ben,  _ what the fuck _ …”

He shrugs.

“I know, I know it’s fucked up. I was brainwashed.”

“Denying someone medical care for a severe injury is downright criminal, you could have died out there.”

“Yeah. But I didn’t…I just got an ugly, messed up face and body, and had to retire at 27. I’m 29 now and I don’t know what the fuck to do with my life, so I guess I got punished enough for my overinflated ego.”

He’s close enough for her to reach his face with her hands and she does, cupping his jaw in her hands and bringing him close, his whiskey eyes widening in surprise. Her heart soars and her lips tingle at the sudden closeness, breath catching in her throat.

“I don’t think you’re ugly, not even a little bit. And your career isn’t over, you can trust me on that…”

Then, Rey takes the plunge and kisses him.

It feels like jumping in ice cold water, diving head first into a wave, pressing her lips to his and feeling his entire body leaning into the kiss. His big hands cup the sides of her neck, her jaw, and just as she opens her mouth to yield to his tongue, her universe goes sideways and they slip off their boards into the warm water.

Weightless, silent, bubbles rising around their still joined bodies.

Then her feet touch the sandy bottom and she pushes up, an engrained reflex, separating their lips and emerging from the turquoise depths, sputtering and laughing. Ben follows her up, hands closing around her small waist as he emerges, shaking the hair out of his eyes like Chewie after a dip.

He smiles like she’s never seen him smile before as he pulls her close to him, her thighs wrapping around his muscled waist of their own volition. His mouth on hers as he initiates the kiss this time, his lips plush and wet, moving patiently. When his tongue slides against her own, her entire body surges in his arms, her core pressing against his abs and he groans against her lips. The raw, needy sound making heat bloom in her lower belly. 

When he pulls away she pants, lungs burning, and she wants to go for more but Ben pulls away a fraction more.

“I also want to kiss you again but I’m  _ sinking… _ ” he pants, laughing when her legs let go of his waist and he bobs up like a cork.

She feels the flush seep all the way down her chest when his hand pushes the hair away from her eyes, his gaze melting into hers, banked heat in the amber depths.

“How about we head back to my place for an early dinner?” he asks, and she smirks, reaching for the edge of her board.

“Yeah, I’m  _ starving _ .”

* * *

When they finally reach the door of Ben’s home, after plenty of speeding and sharp curves, his fingers squeezing her thigh, he barely has his key set in the door that she’s climbing him up like a tree. 

The dogs run past them inside the house and he pushes the door closed behind them with his foot, hands too busy, caressing her back in a long stroke. Chuckling low in her throat when his hands reach her ass and cup it to lift her against him, hoisting her up like she weighs nothing at all. 

He carries her across the kitchen, living room, around the bend to the other section of the house where Ben had installed his bedroom. An entire wall of windows lets in the late afternoon sunlight, indoor palm trees filtering it with green across his low, king bed. Her heated skin sinks in the pale grey sheets and Ben follows her down, his hips slotting between her thighs like a puzzle piece, like his body belongs against hers.

His mouth is on hers and her hands slide up his belly, catching the soft cotton of his tank in their wake and parting from his lips just long enough to slide the garment over his head and off. He pulls away, breathing hard, tugging off her dress and lace bralette in one go. Just like that, she is mostly naked in front of him. 

There’s a hint of self consciousness there that makes her want to cover her breasts with her hands but there is no time to dwell on that emotion because Ben’s hot mouth is tracing down her sternum. Finding her hard nipples with lush lips and then tongue, the heady pressure of teeth and she arches up against him with a moan. He lavishes her sensitive skin with his mouth, until she feels like she’s about to explode, her fingers tangling in his hair.

It’s not the first time she has sex with someone. 

There had been a boy in high school, a good looking jock she’d fucked in the back of her car when she was fifteen and eager to get that dumb virgin label behind her. He’d been sweet, gentle, as awed by her body as she had been by his. They’d gone for ice cream after, sweaty and a little shy, exchanging sheepish smiles. 

There had been that guy who worked with her at the scrap yard too, a bit older, more rugged, blonde and blue eyed with impeccable facial hair. He had a motorcycle, and his own place, and she’d go meet him there after her shifts, spending hours in his bed. He’d taught her things about her own body she hadn’t even thought possible, had given her the first orgasm she’d ever had with someone else.

There had been others, she was far from innocent, but the careful, gentle touches of Ben’s mouth kissing down her belly plunge her in more physical turmoil than any of her past lovers had ever managed. She is  _ flustered  _ by his touch. 

Ben takes his time, like he’s tasting her, and when he gets to the waistband of her panties, hands hooking in the elastic, she has a moment of hesitation, putting her hands on his.

He looks up to her, eyes glowing like embers underneath the sable curtain of his hair falling across them, cheekbones flushed and glossed with sweat.

“Are you okay?” he asks, settling his chin on her hip bone and that earnest look on his beautiful face nearly undoes her completely.

“Yeah…it’s just that, you don’t have to do  _ that _ if you don’t want to. I know some guys don’t love it…” she explains, nervous, the pit of her stomach clenching with anticipation.

He smiles, relaxing, fingers continuing their slow pull of her panties down her thighs.

“I’m  _ not _ one of those guys.” he replies, eyes drifting down to the bared skin between her legs, looking at her cunt like some people look at dessert.

_ Hungry _ . His gaze on her cunt is the hungriest she has ever seen and she feels herself gush in response.

“ _ Fuck _ Rey…you’re so beautiful. And I want to make you come first, because once I’m inside you, I don’t think I’ll last very long…” 

There is the gentle touch of his fingers first, against her clit, a fleeting caress that makes her entire body tingle. And then lips, hot and soft, his huge hands holding her thighs apart and she feels like melting right into the bed. Lips and then careful flicks of an agile tongue, right where she wants it. He pleasures her with single-minded focus, thick lashes fanned on flushed cheeks as he fucks her with his tongue, the tip of his nose brushing against her clit. Her hips surge with each slow thrust of his tongue, heels digging in the sheets. His broad shoulders flex underneath her hands when her fingers sink into them, holding on for dear life as her pleasure peaks.

Her orgasm is like a cresting wave collapsing on itself, carrying her over like the tide and she can’t resist it, crying out when the simmering heat between her legs bursts into flames. It's so good her entire body arches off the bed, vision hazing with euphoria. 

She lays listless and panting for a few seconds, eyes closed, listening to the rustle of his shorts against the sheets. The mattress dips between her thighs and when she opens her eyes, still dazed and sensitive, he’s fully naked. 

His cock is big, much bigger than she’s used to seeing, flushed at the tip, and she  _ wants _ it. She wants it so badly, holding Ben’s gaze as she parts her legs wider, cunt tingling when he grabs her ankle in his big hand, wetting his lips with a flick of his tongue. He’s trembling with need, and she wants him to sink into her, feel every inch of his boldly muscled body against hers.

“Ben…” she murmurs, reaching between her legs to circle her clit and he groans in response, cock twitching, “Don’t make me wait.”

“You still want this?” he asks, breathless, tugging on his cock with his free hand, that whiskey gaze meeting hers and Rey’s breath hitches.

“Yes…I want it so fucking bad.”

She lets out a breathy little moan when he guides his cock inside her, slow, patient, leaning over her with his hands fisted in the sheets, framing her shoulders. Working it inside her inch after inch, until the back of her thighs are flush with his hips and his body shudders at the intense sensation, muscles flexing in his abdomen.

“You’re so tight Rey,  _ fuck _ . I’m afraid of hurting you…” he breathes, letting his head drop between her breasts and the shift of his cock inside her pulls a moan out of them both.

“Why don’t you try me? Go slow…”

He does, hips rolling and her heels dig in the muscled flesh of his ass, urging him closer. She’s so full, stretched as far as her body will go and it feels so good that her overwhelmed nerves pull another orgasm out of her, deeper in the pit of her stomach.

“Ben… _ christ _ …”

She clenches around him so tight and his ass flexes underneath her heels, muscles in his back shuddering. He’s holding back not to come and she can feel it, the strain in his body, his panting breath against her throat, her jaw.

“Are you coming for me again, Rey?” he murmurs against her ear, obviously delighted when she moans low and deep in response, his hips pulsing.

“Yes, _god_ _yes_ Ben.”

The thrusts inside her pick up in intensity and she feels so good she could cry. His mouth is so soft against her jaw, breath hot and dry, murmuring the softest of endearments.

When he reaches underneath her to grab her ass in his hands, holding her up and open against him, surging deep inside, her core feels like liquid fire. He fucks her slow and hard until she can’t get enough oxygen in her lungs, the inferno in her belly on the verge of exploding.

He kisses her mouth deep and hard, pulling away to breathe and press his sweaty forehead to hers.

“Rey,  _ fuck _ I’m gonna...come with me. Be with me…”he groans, his own words cut off by a deep moan that comes from the pit of his stomach.

Every muscle in his back flexes underneath her fingers, spine straightening as his hips surge, losing his rhythm but Rey doesn’t care because her entire body feels on fire, vision hazed with red as they climax together.

He collapses beside her, the two of them still joined at the hip, and she cradles his head underneath her chin, panting hard, trying to get her wild heart settled in her chest.

“Fuck…that was _so_ _good_.” she sighs, and Ben chuckles against her sternum, kissing her collarbones. 

“Yeah. Fuck, I haven’t had an orgasm  _ this _ good in…years.” he pants against her throat.

She buries her nose in his thick hair, her fingers caressing his broad shoulders and the back of his neck, trying not to focus too much on the fact that he’s still inside her, her flesh alive with aftershocks. 

They lay in comfortable silence, the intimacy of their bodies delicious, until he’s soft enough to pull out in a warm gush of their mingled fluids, the mess spilling on her thigh.

“I think we’re gonna need a shower.” she remarks, trailing her fingers in the milky pool of their pleasure on her skin, Ben following the motions with hungry eyes.

His spent cock twitches against his thigh, and he guides her hand to it, biting the curve of her shoulder.

“We will need one, but only when I am done with you.” he mouths against her skin.

She sighs against his ocean scented hair, and once again on this wondrous afternoon, she lets the surging tide of their desire claim her, and submerge her completely.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHAHAHA I'M TERRIBLE! So yeah only one chapter left to this trash fire, I bet y'all are gonna be glad it's over...do y'all like how I snuck the "be with me" line in there like the pile of flaming garbage I am? Yep, I suck.
> 
> See y'all next Friday for the last instalment and thank you so much for sticking with me so far, y'all are MVPs xoxo


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof so this is a couple weeks late...sorry >_< This ended up needing a couple of re-writes (this is one of the reasons why I don't do chaptered works tbh), but I'm pretty happy with how I'm closing this cheesy story. Thank you so much for sticking around for the ride y'all!
> 
> Warnings: nothing that isn't in the tags. There is some mentions of specific surf competition terms in there, I've simplified it a whole lot but any additional explanations will be in the end notes. Enjoy!

The sun is low in the horizon when Ben wakes, limning the outlines of Rey’s naked body in his sheets with rose gold. 

The way her waist narrows, to then flare smoothly at the hip, the long unbroken line of her thigh is a thing of beauty. Running his fingers along the length of her soft, sun-kissed skin isn’t a mere compulsion, it’s a deep set need in the pit of his stomach.

It’s that same need that makes his lips touch the curve of a muscled shoulder, guides his hand up her smooth stomach to the underside of her breast. She stretches alongside him and lets out a pleased sigh, her hand finding his on her chest.

“What time is it?” she asks, sleepy soft, and he takes his time to answer, tracing up her neck with his lips until he gets to her ear.

“Five thirty, the sun is barely risen. It’s early, we could go back to sleep…”

“Or not.” she replies, turning to face him in the mess of sheets.

She doesn’t stop there, sliding her thigh over his hip and pushing him flat on his back, hands on his chest as she straddles him. Sleep tousled and soft, her eyes golden in the dim light, and when she smiles down at him, his heart throbs in his chest. Her nimble hands caress down his belly and leave a tingling flush in their wake, the pit of his stomach clenching, and Ben wracks his mind trying to figure out what he did to deserve such perfection.

“You’re insatiable.”

She grins, a touch feral, and his cock surges in response against her.

“Yes. Now feed me…”

* * *

She’d had the good sense to tell Poe she wasn’t sleeping at the villa the evening before, but that didn’t make it any less embarrassing to show up there a little after noon with the dishevelled look of someone who’s had orgasms before breakfast.

Rey shuffles in, Bebe barging past her to the kitchen, only to see Poe and Finn at the breakfast nook nursing coffees and matching grins.

“Well well...had a late night? Or an early morning?” Poe asks, shoving a fresh cup in her hands.

Her face feels hotter, and is probably redder than a forge but she might as well answer and bear it. Poe will never let it go otherwise.

“A bit of both really…”

Finn’s mouth drops comically.

“Didn’t think old man Solo had that kind of stamina…” Finn mumbles in his coffee cup and Poe chokes on his own.

“He’s not  _ that _ old…” Rey counters, leaning her hip against the kitchen island with the slightest of winces, stuffing her mouth with pineapple chunks.

Of course, she hadn’t been subtle enough for Poe to ignore.

“So Rey...you know I have no interest in your sex life but I do have a burning question, and might very well die if I don’t get an answer,” he brings his hands together and starts to slowly move them apart, “Tell me when to stop.”

Finn spits his mouthful of coffee all over the kitchen island.

“Poe Dameron, you are repulsive. And you’ll have to keep guessing, I’m off to take a bath…” Rey replies, trying to gather what is left of her dignity along with her coffee mug and the plate of pineapple chunks up the stairs.

“I’ll find out eventually Rey!” Poe calls out, and for some reason, Rey can’t find it in herself to be annoyed.

In fact, she can’t get the smile to leave her face for even a second.

Later, when she soaks in warm, vanilla and coconut scented water to the collarbones, admiring the finger sized bruises that Ben left on her thighs, her phone pings. She grabs it from the bathmat and promptly puts it back down when she reads the notification, hiding her face in her hands. Her face feels like it will never go back to a colour that isn’t red.

ROSE: “ _ So Finn texted me that you may have gotten the dicking down of the century from Ben Fucking Solo himself. I’m checking in on your vagina, is she okay? Who do I ask for the juicy details?” _

Rey knows better than most how fast gossip travels around an island, but once again, Tahiti manages to surprise her.

* * *

For most of her life, Rey has felt that she constantly was in a state of flux, changing, shaping herself up to whatever the universe would throw at her. Fighting the odds, righting a scale set askew from birth.

The way things settled into place with Ben, and then all of her life righting itself in one go, it wasn’t something that she was expecting to happen so soon, not in this lifetime even.

Poe hadn’t made much of a deal of her spending her nights over at Ben’s house. Rey even surmised that he probably didn’t mind having the place to himself to hang out with Finn, and as long as she showed up to train every morning at 7 on the dot, there wasn’t much he could fault her for. He certainly couldn’t blame her for wanting to spend every free minute of every day, mostly naked and mostly horizontal, with a man who made her heart feel too heavy for her ribcage. 

Neither could any of their friends, Hux seeing them arrive at the bonfire the evening after that magical day at the end of the world with a little knowing shrug. 

“Rey and Ben together huh?” Phasma had remarked as the couple sat close together on a log, Ben’s arm sliding around Rey’s waist like it had always belonged there. 

“The sun is hot, water is wet, Ben and Rey together...got any more of those universal truths?” Paige had muttered.

It had been the end of that. Everyone seems so unsurprised by the outcome that Rey wonders if any of them took bets and if so, who won. 

“You know Luke and Ben’s dad are flying in three days?” Poe asks Rey, who is trying very hard to hold a one legged plank in the sand after a gruelling core workout.

“Yep.” she grunts in response, “How much longer do I need to hold this?”

“Another thirty seconds. Don’t you feel nervous?”

“I know Luke and Han pretty well, why should I be nervous?”

“Fifteen seconds. I mean...that changes dynamics a little bit no?”

Rey collapses over her own weight as soon as Poe’s watch beeps, landing in the sand with a thump, grunting at the sweat falling in her eyes.

“Luke is my coach. Sure, I’m dating his nephew but I don’t think he’d be unprofessional enough to let that affect him. I mean he might be a little rattled, but I think he cares more about me winning the pros. And I have a feeling Han isn’t gonna mind too much…”

Poe hands her a water bottle and a towel as she sits in the white sand, shrugging.

“Yeah, I guess. Honestly it’s not like you can undo it…”

“Nor would I want to.” she replies, her mouth curling up when she thinks of her tall, dark and handsome boyfriend and the sex they’d had in those hazy hours between night and dawn.

Hers. Ben Solo is  _ hers.  _ The thought is dizzying.

The word “boyfriend” is an odd one to associate to her hulking, taciturn lover but he fits the bill just fine, she’s decided. 

“You two are gross. Let’s talk about surfing, how confident do you feel?"

She’d had a near perfect run that morning, the wave carrying her like a feather on wind. It was hard not to feel like she could take over the world.

“I feel really great. I’m understanding the wave pattern, I’ve only wiped out a couple of times but I have that figured out too with the shallow reef space. I’m pretty confident I can get to finals.”

She’d seen some of her competition the past few weeks, Hux and Ben pointing them out in the lineup from their own boards in the shallows.

_ World surf league champion. Olympics finalist. Won Tahiti last year… _

Rey had studied her rivals and shrugged. She knows her potential, she has nothing to prove to these very talented people she will compete against. She only has to prove it to herself, that she can get up there with the best of them.

That little Rey Nobody from the poorest trailer park in Hilo could make it.

“I think you can get up there too, you’re in peak form, the rest depends on the ocean on that day. Hopefully she doesn’t decide to spit you out. Is Ben competing?”

“I have no clue. If he does we haven’t talked about it.”

“What do you think?”

Rey brings her knees to her chest, resting her chin on her sun warmed skin. She sees Ben in her mind, that pure joy on his face when he does a perfect barrel, the agile strength of his body. She remembers the accident too, the pale body pulled out of dark, angry, bloody waters and shudders, wrapping her arms around her bent legs.

“Physically he totally could, but I’m not in his brain telling him that the wave won’t swallow him this time. I don’t know. It’s stuff he needs to work out himself, it can’t be forced.”

Poe squeezes her shoulder, and she looks up, Poe’s familiar face kissed by the sun. His career had been ended by an accident too, he knows what Ben is going through better than most.

“You’re pretty wise for a teenager, I’ll tell you that. And I think you’re good for him. You’re what he needs. He started standing tall again, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen Ben like that.”

“I’m hardly a teenager…” she replies, brushing sand off her shins.

Her heart feels too full to address the rest of Poe’s sentence.

“Nope, until you’re twenty, and that’s still in what? Four months? You’re still a teenager to me. And a damn smart one…”

She snorts, accepts his hand to pull herself up and they gather up the workout equipment before heading back up the little path to Maz’s.

“Thanks Poe, wouldn’t be as wise as I am without your tough love, god knows I needed it at times…”

“I hope you’ll mention it in your speech when you win the pros next week, I could use a laurel crown myself, ya know.”

They’re both laughing when they emerge from the thin sage bushes that border the beach and onto Maz’s long driveway, and Rey notices Ben’s Land Cruiser parked behind the truck. Chewie greets them first, loping across the gravel, tail wagging. Rey pets the big shaggy dog, looking up to see if his master is close behind.

Ben is looking like his usual delicious self, long hair salt mussed and a little wild, but he’s much dirtier than usual. Worn black shorts fall low on his hips, dusty and ripped in places, heavy work boots caked in pale sand, and to her delight, no shirt, skin light gold in the afternoon light. She jogs to him and wraps her arms around his shoulders regardless, pressing her lips to his.

Every kiss feels like her world fades away to nothing but him and his mouth, his hands, her heart racing.

It’s more exhilarating than dropping down the sheer face of the tallest wave.

“I’m all gross.” he mumbles against her lips and she grins, wiping a smudge of dirt off the bridge of his nose.

“Me too, just worked out.”

“So it doesn’t matter if I kiss you again?” he asks, pulling her closer against his chest.

They’re rudely interrupted by Poe making all sorts of exaggerated hacking sounds, Rey turning her head to her coach with a long suffering sigh.

“Oh I’m sorry carry on, I’m just intolerant to young love, literally makes me  _ sick… _ ”

“How about you go inside so you don’t have to witness our puke worthy displays of affection.” Ben counters, fingers digging in Rey’s bare waist, making her squirm and laugh against his chest.

“Ew. Great idea…”

Poe clambers up the steps, Chewie on his heels, and Rey is pleasantly returned to the demanding requests of Ben’s lips on hers.

“Oh look I’ve gotten dust all over you. How was your day?” he asks, letting her go to wipe the dust he smeared all over her blue tie-dye sports bra.

“Is this an excuse to touch my breasts?”

“Yes, but please do tell me about your afternoon.” he replies, grinning when she bats his hands away playfully. 

“Got a perfect wave this morning, like a ten. Felt amazing. Just did a workout with Poe, and now I’m free for the evening. What about you? Why are you so dirty?”

He smirks, twining his fingers with hers as they walk over to the villa’s porch.

“I’ve done a couple of big home improvements, that’s why I wasn’t at the break this morning. I think you’re gonna like it.”

“Ohhh should I get showered and come check it out?”

Rey starts ascending the porch steps and squeals when Ben decides to pick her up instead, grabbing her in a fireman’s carry with an effortlessness that spoke volumes on his brute strength.

“Great suggestion, I definitely also need a shower…”

* * *

The hot tub had definitely been one of Ben’s finer ideas when it came to improvements to his home. It was large enough to fit a good chunk of their crew, and he’d also had the good sense to set up a designated area for a large fire pit so they could all enjoy their nightly bonfires somewhere more comfortable.

He’s not quite sure what made him want to add the costly addition to his home, but he thinks it might have a little bit to do with the fact that Rey had extolled the virtues of a hot bath after physical activity. Maybe.

In any case, she was thrilled, sinking in the swirling waters across from him with a pleased sigh.

The sun was starting to drop in the horizon, his reality with her punctuated with sunrises and sunsets, suffused with golden light.

Ben wanted more. He wanted every minute, his heart full enough to burst.

* * *

Luke was understandably miffed by their relationship, although slightly mollified by Rey’s obvious readiness for the upcoming competition. 

Han had clasped his son on the shoulder and given him a little wink. 

“How dare you, Benjamin Solo. I leave my protégée in your near vicinity for six weeks and you manage to charm her…”

“Guess he’s a lot more like his old man than you thought, brother.” Han teases Luke, elbowing the grizzled man in the ribs.

Ben has the grace to blush a little, but he can’t help but smile at his dad ribbing his taciturn uncle. It's an easy routine they fall into once the two men arrive in Tahiti, renting a little villa close to Ben’s home. Ben is subdued, Han is teasing, and Luke does his usual cantankerous old man routine.

It actually feels nice, they’re only missing his mother to complete the picture. Ben promises himself that after all this, he’ll go visit his parents in Maui. And he’ll bring Rey.

“I’m getting beers from the cooler, want one Ben?” his father asks, pushing off the railing where the three men are leaning.

“Sure.”

They’re watching Rey train on the waves, studying her intently from the railing of the little boat Han had rented for the week as she attacked the swell with gusto. She pulls a perfect run down the sheer face of Teahupoo on her new black and orange board, and Luke sighs, turning his blue gaze to his nephew.

Luke’s eyes are like the ocean, endlessly cerulean.

“Well, I guess I can’t grudge you, she’s riding better than ever.”

“I did my best to only be a distraction when she wasn’t training.” Ben replies, only to internally cringe at how his words sounded. 

Navigating this relationship with friends was one thing. Family was something else entirely. Especially when his family was so deeply entwined with Rey’s life already.

“How about you Ben, are you gonna compete too, I didn’t see your name in the competition listings.”

Ben leans forward against the railing, looking out to the ocean.

“Not this year. I volunteered for the rescue team though, I’ll be out there on the water.”

“How’s your knee?” Luke asks, a touch of concern in his tone that only reminds Ben of how different his life would have been if he’d stayed under his uncle’s wing.

It would have needed more work, more compromise on both sides, but he knows without a shadow of a doubt that his uncle would have never sent him out to compete while injured. He needed time to realize it.

“Recovered. The doctor cleared me to ride, it’s not the physical part, it’s the mindset that is a little lacking.”

Luke nods, accepting the beer that Han hands him as he emerges from the back of the boat with cans in his hands.

“That always takes more time than everything else, might as well do it right and not rush into it. Take the time you need, Ben. Health is more important than winning medals and impressing sponsors.”

The words take a load of weight off Ben’s shoulders. He had debated with himself, looking out at the roiling ocean from his rooftop terrace. He wasn’t ready to face the endless blue just yet, still rebuilding his relationship with the salt water that coursed in his veins.

He’d felt secure in his decision, but it helped to know that he’d be supported in it.

There’s a strong hand squeezing his shoulder, steadying him when a wave curls under the prow of the little boat. Han’s hair is more white than grey, and there’s more lines than Ben can count around his eyes, but his grip is stronger than ever.

“You uncle is right, kid. You take all the time you need. And then some, who knows, you seem pretty good at coaching…”

He looks at Rey, paddling over to the line up to get another go at the wave, bright smile, sunkissed.

“She’s good, huh?” he murmurs, a little proud smile making its way on his lips and Han chuckles. 

“Maybe even better than you were.” Luke muses.

Ben cannot find any part of him that wants to disagree.

* * *

She calls her mom and sisters the night before the competition, sitting out on the beach right out of Ben's house with a pineapple smoothie and watching him and Chewie play in the shallow surf. They talk about everything and nothing, catching up on life. Then Rey’s mom mentions that she’ll need to introduce her to the seemingly handsome boy her sisters had glimpsed at in her instagram stories, and Rey feels her cheeks get heated.

She hadn’t taken the time to update her family on what was happening in her life, and admittedly felt a little guilty now that she was catching them up. But her mom would never begrudge her any of it, asking about every detail, cooing at all the appropriate moments.

“ _ So, boyfriend huh? Luke’s nephew to boot? I hope he takes after his parents more than his extended family, that grumpy old man always looks like he’s been sucking lemons all day. Is he as cute as the girls are telling me?” _

She’d been careful on her social media, but there were a few quick glimpses of him here and there, mostly faceless bits.

“Hmhmm…”

“ _ Tall?” _

“Six two. Eyes like milk chocolate, long black hair, surfs like a god…”

_ “You sound a little dreamy, are you looking at him?” _

“He’s playing in the waves with his old dog, he just fed me really nice food...he’s an amazing cook did I mention that?”

_ “Oh boy...I definitely have to meet him now. You’ll bring him to Hilo when you’re done with this competition?” _

“Definitely. I can’t wait to see you mom.”

_ “Me too sweetie, we’ll be watching you on the world surf league feed. You’re the best rider I know, you’ll do great.” _

“I still feel a bit...out of it. Like I don’t deserve all that good stuff dropping into my lap.”

_ “Oh honey...you started your life so rough, I think it’s only fair that the scales get balanced a little bit, don’t you think? You’ve worked your entire life to fight the odds, you’ve earned it.” _

“I love you mom.”

_ “I love you too baby.” _

Her bare feet dig in the white sand, another perfect sunset on Tahiti. Tomorrow is her big day, for better or for worse.

Luke, Poe and Han had been over for dinner, Ben had made really perfect grilled fish, the night had been laid back and perfect. Luke had managed to wince at them kissing only once, and she suspected it was strictly to maintain his grumpy old man reputation.

She looks at Ben tossing a piece of driftwood for Chewie to fetch, old dog fearlessly jumping in the water to retrieve it. There’s that fleeting moment when the light hits his tall, muscular shape just right, outlining him in pink gold and Rey feels her breath catching in her throat.

She feels like her life couldn’t be more perfect than it is right now.

* * *

The morning of the Tahiti Pro, Rey, who had been the epitome of confidence until then, actually feels like a bundle of anxious energy.

This is her big break, after nearly four years of honing her skills. She feels like her heart is in her throat. Stirring against Ben’s long limbs, his skin warm and soft in the crisp sheets. There’s a few hours before she needs to head over to Teahupoo, sunrise barely warming the horizon

“I can feel you thinking Rey.” Ben mumbles in the pillows, turning around to face her.

She expects him to say things but he takes her face in his hands and guides her lips to his instead, legs tangling with hers.

His kiss is sleepy, lips soft but insistent, and her breath soars when he slides her body underneath his warm one.

He was starting to know her body like he knew his own and yet every touch felt reverent and full of quiet awe, the way his fingers traced down the sinuous length of her body. How they cupped her muscled hips, his palms moulding to her skin and she felt so precious and desired.

He tilts his face to hers to deepen the kiss and demands more of her lips and the way he moans in her open-mouthed kiss makes her entire body heat up deliciously. Plush lips and eager tongue tinted with desperation and she trembles with need. They both do.

She knows what she wants from him right now; comfort, reassurance, and she takes it.

He pushes against her heated flesh, aching for it, his beautiful body so responsive to hers despite the sleepy softness of his movements. He groans low when her thighs part a fraction, wordlessly urging him closer.

Hard and hot, the blunt tip of his cock pressing between her thighs and Rey sighs, burying fingers in his thick black hair, the friction as he enters her slowly making her light-headed.

She feels languid and weightless, his first thrusts shallow and controlled and his mouth burning on her throat until he bottoms out, so deep inside her he could feel the heady pulse of her cunt around his cock. 

Her muscles seize up around him and he moans against the heated skin underneath her ear, mouthing a curse and then his hands are on her hips again, hoisting her up the mattress. Shifting her up until her hips are higher than her head over stacked pillows, making her entire body clench when he thrusts into her in earnest.

His rhythm steady and strong and his mouth breathing endearments against her throat, everything she’s ever wanted to hear and more, as he works himself inside her slow and hard.

Neither of them would last long in this languid, perfect tangle of bodies that hits everything  _ right _ . The early light red and gold, lighting up his entire body and her hips responding to his thrusts, getting just enough friction on her clit to make her whine against his temple as her orgasm gathers heat. So quickly, fire and glory on the edge of her grasp, his body tense and ready, release on the tip of her tongue.

“Come for me Rey…” he pleads against her neck, low and breathless, “Please, my love…”

He cries against the side of her neck as he comes, deep surging pulses that fill her with heat and the tugging in the pit of her belly sends her over the edge.

She shudders in his arms, helpless with the pleasure that courses every inch of her, vision streaked with white.

Her entire world shrunk down to his chocolate gaze, and his plush mouth tracing words of love underneath her jaw.

It was the easiest thing in the world to just let go of all of her fears and insecurities, drowning in the solid safety of his body and his loving words.

Just for a few moments, until it’s time to get up and face the waves.

She takes a too long shower and Ben makes her a fruit smoothie, her nerves too on edge to eat anything substantial. He caresses the back of her neck when they finally get in the Land Cruiser, and that little soft smile he gives her makes her want to lay her heart at his feet.

“I feel like a nervous wreck.”

“I know.” he replies, squeezing her nape, “It’s your first. It only gets easier from there.”

“What if I fail, wipe out on my first go? I mean, I know Luke entered me as the wildcard competitor, so expectations will be non-existent. But what if it all goes horribly wrong?”

“You might, but that won’t change a thing. It’s what you do after that matters. You’ll get back on your board and keep going. I’ll be out there on the water to catch you if you need.”

The ocean is rowdy when they make it to Teahupoo. 

Big crashing waves, strong winds, the sun obscured by clouds.

Ben drives through the assembled crowds here to watch the competition take place, flashing a staff badge to get through the security checkpoints as Rey tries to breathe slowly beside him in the passenger seat.

She imagines a calm ocean in her mind but it’s hard to materialize when the one in front of her is so agitated.

When they get to the tents and gazebos at the launch site, she feels a little comforted to see that Finn, Phasma and Hux are already there, chatting with Poe and Luke. Han is to the side, waxing her new board with the long-practiced movements of a craftsman.

She has rehearsed this moment in her mind over and over again. She deserves this.

Rey Nobody deserves to be there, she’s earned this.

When she goes out to meet the wave today, she’ll be worthy of it.

* * *

Her heats aren’t perfect by any means.

She fumbles a little on the first wave and spends the rest of it trying to maintain the precarious balance of board on water. But the rest of the heats go as planned, gaining confidence when another surfer in her bracket tries to run interference on her wave. 

If they’re trying to distract her, then she’s a threat to them.

She makes it to the finals, hearing the news on Finn’s CB radio as she takes a break under a white gazebo by the water. Finn and Poe jump in the air excitedly when they hear the words and for a second she thinks she’s dreaming.

She hadn’t been sure, her last heat not as stable as the rest. 

Her body hurts all over, her eyes stinging from the salt water and her buns have unfurled into tangled pony tails, but she is full of adrenaline and itching to get back in the water. Luke is sitting beside her when he hears it too, his jaw dropping.

In an unprecedented show of emotion, the old man smiles wider than she’s ever seen him and hugs her, uncaring about the wetsuit soaking his clothes. Squeezing her like a vice and she lets out a peal of disbelieving laughter.

“Rey, holy  _ fucking _ christ! You’re going to finals! You made it!” 

She’s never heard the old man curse like that  _ ever _ , it makes the moment even more poignant. There is pride and pure happiness in his blue eyes and for a second, Rey gets a glimpse of the young man he had once been.

It could all end there, and Rey would die happy, but she gears up again. Fresh wetsuit, orange lycra shirt with the number 8 on her back. Han hugs her tight before handing her the orange and black board he’s made just for her, and she feels so loved.

“Knock ‘em out kid.”

She wishes Ben was with her, in those moments before her big finale, but he’s out on the waves with the rescue team. She’d caught his eye when she’d paddled out for her first heat, he was floating along the waves on a rescue jet ski, the red and white lifeguard jersey looking so vibrant in the endless blue.

He’d smiled and had yelled out some words to her, but she couldn’t hear them over the roar of the ocean. She’d been able to read his lips though:

_ I love you. _

She was living for the moment she could say it back to him.

Her co-finalist is a world champion, and it shows when her first heat is near perfect. She has five waves to beat her, and Rey knows that she’ll have to give it her all.

In her mind she imagines a calm ocean with perfect waves, and she forgets the crowd on the shore, the boats and the drone cameras, the judges, the competition. She thinks of that small surf break in Hilo, behind the trailer park, and her blue and white second hand board. Her mom and sisters on the shore cheering her on.

The first barrel is tight enough for her to touch the curving ceiling of the wave with her fingers as she rides it, the water carrying her all the way to the mouth of the wave. It feels like she’s flying.

The other waves are a blur, perfect curves of glassy blue.

The sun has cleared the rest of the clouds and she can see it through the wall of the ocean when she rides, up and high on the slope, feeling the kinetic energy of the ocean pushing her forward.

It’s a tight race, the improving conditions making it easier for her adversary to score points, but she doesn’t care if she wins or loses. She’s made it, she’s proven it to herself that little Rey who started with nothing had it in her to be everything she aspired to.

On her last wave, she slips off the board.

A slight miscalculation on her part, the wall steeper than she’d expected, and she barely has the time to brace herself before hitting the glass wall of the ocean.

Underneath Teahupoo’s roiling barrel, the water is endlessly blue, and all is quiet but for the roar of the waves above her. 

She has a moment of utter peace, the warm ocean like a blanket around her.

Something catches her foot and she kicks, swimming against the current to emerge after the swell, spitting and panting, her nose full of salt water. She doesn’t know how long she’s been under, but she sees the rescue jet skis hurtling her way.

Ben, looking paler than a ghost, drags her out of the water by the shoulders onto the rescue sled attached to his jet ski. She holds on for dear life as he gets out of the way of the next swell. Her brain is going a million miles a minute and yet time seems to slow down. Ben is asking her things over his shoulder but all the words sound like garbled gibberish over the pounding of her heart pulsing in her ears.

When they get to shallow water, Ben jumps off the jet ski and swims to her side, grabbing her face in his hands.

His eyes like sunsets and his skin like moonlight, and he’s too beautiful for words, despite the deep worry etched on his features.

“Rey, are you alright?”

“You are so beautiful right now.” she replies, because it’s the only thing on her mind and it’s the only words that want to come out.

Ben cries. And laughs. Oddly enough he can make the mixture of emotions look lovely on his features.

“I think you might be in shock, looks like you cut your foot on some coral. You were under for a solid minute.”

She lifts her head and sees that there’s a pool of blood in the water by her feet, but she’s so high on adrenaline that she can’t feel a thing.

“I feel fine.”

Ben wipes at his eyes and laughs harder, cupping the back of her neck.

He kisses her, like a drowning man seeks oxygen. 

When they part, he presses his forehead to hers and his closed eye smile is the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen.

“I love you.” she murmurs.

“I know.”

She can hear other crafts approaching, and the sounds of people calling their names from the shore. There is a mixture of worry and excitement in their tone, but it’s so easy to abstract everything when Ben is her entire world.

“Rey,” Ben murmurs against her lips, “You won. You wiped the fuck out on your last wave but you won.”

Rey decides that it’s the perfect time to rest on her laurels and lose consciousness. 

* * *

“So you managed to give us all a little scare, but I honestly can’t grudge you.” Luke mutters, admiring the shiny golden bowl of the Tahiti Pro trophy.

Rey smirks from her lounge chair on the beach, bundled in Ben’s black hoodie, sipping a celebratory beer from a can. There’s five stitches on the sole of her left foot, and an ice pack on her sprained ankle.

Luke and Poe’s phones have been ringing off the hook ever since she’d gone up to accept her trophy, hopping around on her right foot, a crown of yellow and orange hibiscus on her wet hair. 

Sponsors, news outlets. Everyone wants to know about that young, wildcard surfer who had raffled first place from under everyone’s nose. 

Rey is so happy she could cry.

“I’m sorry I scared everyone, but it was worth it. Just that now I can’t surf for six weeks…”

Luke shrugs, putting down the heavy trophy on a nearby table.

“I think that after the celebration Rose Tico has planned for tonight, everyone will also need six weeks to recover. I’ve seen her and Paige carry enough cases of rum to put everyone in a coma.”

Rey laughs, looking over at the hustle and bustle in the beach’s parking lot. 

Trestle tables and huge smokers have been set up, fairy lights in the palm trees and hundreds of tiki torches are lighting up the early evening. A local band is tuning and warming up in a corner, and she can hear Rose yelling orders left and right, a hapless Hux running to do her bidding. It will be the party of her short lifetime, and she can’t wait.

Ben and Han are playing with Chewie on the beach, tossing a yellow frisbee back and forth, and Rey doesn’t think she’s ever seen him this happy.

Except maybe that fleeting moment, when he’d carried her away from the podium in his arms, ignoring the photographers and press as he took her to the relative privacy of the medical tent. Sitting her down on a table and kissing the daylights out of her, until they were both laughing and breathless.

“You’re the love of my life.” she’d whispered in the hollow of his throat and he’d smiled and kissed her again.

He’d been really happy then.

“I feel so happy my heart feels too heavy for my body.”

Luke chuckles, sitting down on the camp chair beside her lounger.

“That’s a great feeling isn’t it? And do you know what the best thing is, out of all this?”

She looks over at Luke, and the old man is looking at the ocean, a pleased look on his features.

“You've swam out of the riptide, and the ocean is all yours to discover. Your story is just getting started.”

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick primer on surf competition scoring systems: Most competitions will work as follows; all the competitors will be first participating in qualifying rounds where they'll ride waves one at a time (heats) and will be scored on a variety of factors. Every competitor gets scored on two waves (1-10) and the best scores go on to the next step until most of the roster is eliminated. The remaining two or three surfers get to go to the finals. The winner is determined on an average of the two highest scoring heats out of five total. So you can wipe out on one of them and still win, depending on how good the rest of the performance is. I hope that makes sense >_>
> 
> Soooo did that hit the spot or what? I think this is a good closing chapter for our two surfers; a winning title, a happy Ben and parties on the horizon. What more could one want tbh?! Any typos/mistakes are my own, this is as unbeta-ed as ever. Kudos and comments keep me sane and writing <3 Thanks everyone for sticking around to the end, I appreciate and love everyone of you <3 See y'all in the next adventure! xoxo

**Author's Note:**

> So um...yeah. This is gonna be trash. 
> 
> All I know about surfing is from my limited personal experience with small to medium waves, but I have a fascination with big wave surfing so yeah...if I messed up anywhere let me know! Also, I've been to French Polynesia and it's one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Period. 
> 
> I'm thinking of updating once or twice a week...let me know what you think!


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